The Age of Empire: 1875-1914

A master historian's account of the middle-class world of our grandparents and how its sudden collapse in World War I laid the basis for the catastrophes of the 20th century. 54 photos, maps, charts.
Erica Hobsbawm discusses the evolution of European economics, politics, arts, sciences, and cultural life from the height of the industrial revolution to the First World War. Hobsbawm combines vast erudition with a graceful prose style to re-create the epoch that laid the basis for the twentieth century.