Book, Age of extremes[LS]

Language: Brazilian Portuguese. Panoramic historical essay in which the famous English historian develops the thesis that the 20th century began with the outbreak of the First World War, in 1914, and ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union, in 1991. Eric Hobsbawm, one of the greatest historians of the current affairs, gives his testimony about the 20th century: "My life span coincides with most of the time this book deals with", he says at the opening, "so until now I have refrained from talking about it". In this fascinating book, however, he abandons his voluntary silence to tell, in simple and engaging language, the story of the "age of lost illusions". "An erudite classic who writes in the same pleasant way about the mafia, jazz, African rebels, politics or economics." - William Waack, See "Eric Hobsbawm's Age of Extremes is his masterpiece. More original, more personal and, inevitably, more political." - Perry Anderson, The Guardian "Hobsbawm sees the century as marked by two great eras, that of catastrophe (from 1914 to 1948) and that of gold (from 1949 to 1973). More human beings were killed in it than at any other time and in him he reached levels of well-being and transformations never seen before in human experience. Hobsbawm tells this with elegant erudition. He has the magic of Fred Astaire." - Elio Gaspari, O Estado de S. Paulo