Bandits

Eric Hobsbawm

Orion, Dec 30, 2010 - History - 240 pages

A trailblazing study of the social bandit or rebel

BANDITS is a study of the social bandit or bandit-rebel - robbers and outlaws who are not regarded by public opinion as simple criminals, but rather as champions of social justice, as avengers or as primitive resistance fighters. Whether Balkan haiduks, Indian dacoits or Brazilian congaceiros, their spectacular exploits have been celebrated and preserved in story and myth. Some are only know to their fellow countrymen; others such as Rob Roy, Robin Hood and Jesse James are famous throughout the world. First published in 1969, BANDITS inspired a new field of historical study: bandit history.

What people are saying

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - jcbrunner - LibraryThing

I finally finished Eric Hobsbawn's classic work on agrarian bandits whose role as social rebels comes mostly from fiction rather than historical reality. Robin Hood, Wilhelm Tell and Zorro are not ...

Review: Bandits

User Review  - Leonard - Goodreads

One of the books that signaled Hobsbawm's arrival as a major force among historians. An interesting read on populist criminals that stands the entire traditional approach to banditry on its head.

About the author

Born in Alexandria in 1917, Eric Hobsbawm was educated in Vienna, Berlin, London and Cambridge. A Fellow of the British Academy and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, he taught for most of his career at Birkbeck College, University of London, where he was Emeritus Professor of Economic and Social History. He is best known for his trilogy of studies on the long 19th century (The Age of Revolution: Europe 1789-1848, The Age of Capital: 1848-1875 and The Age of Empire: 1875-1914). He died in London in October 2012 at the age of ninety-five.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Bandits
• Author: Eric Hobsbawm
• Publisher: Orion, 2010
• ISBN: 0297865315, 9780297865315
• Length: 240 pages
• Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / Criminals & Outlaws; History / General; History / Historiography; History / World