Eric John Hobsbawm

E. J. Hobsbawm was born in Alexandria in 1917 to a British father of Polish descent and an Austrian mother of Jewish heritage. He studied in Vienna, Berlin, London, and Cambridge. Hobsbawm was a member of the British Academy and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, an honorary fellow of King's College, Cambridge, and held honorary doctorates from several universities across various countries. He taught at Birkbeck College, University of London, until his retirement—a setting he acknowledged as an inspiration and motivation for his historical work—and later at the New School for Social Research in New York. In addition to his renowned books "The Age of Revolution, 1789-1848," "The Age of Capital, 1848-1875," "The Age of Empire, 1875-1914," and "Age of Extremes: The Short Twentieth Century 1914-1991," he authored "Primitive Rebels," "Labouring Man and Worlds of Labour," "Industry and Empire," "Nations and Nationalism Since 1780," "The Invention of Tradition," "The Jazz Scene," "Uncommon People," "Bandits," and "Globalisation, Democracy and Terrorism," which have been translated into numerous languages. He also wrote an exceptionally engaging autobiography, "Interesting Times: A Twentieth-century Life." Hobsbawm passed away on October 1, 2012, at the Royal Free Hospital in London, at the age of 95, having lived a full life.