Eric Hobsbawm, Patriarch of Historians
C P Aboobaker
Eric Hobsbawm is no more. He has written the story of modern world in a series of beautiful volumes, The Age of Revolution, The Age of Capital, The Age of Empire and the Age of Extremes. He has proved that history can be written not merely to read, but to change the world. He examined in depth how bandits are created, how the marginalized sections in the societies of the privileged rebel illegally, how the illegal rebels are welcomed by the people as heroes and how they constitute the groups of bandits. When even governments become groups of organized banditry, the existence of social bandits in the past cannot be a wonder. Moreover, Hobsbawm has dealt at length with the traditions and how most of the so-called traditions have been a concoction. We know religion, nation, race, and the like groups have been powerful weapons of strife that has made the world a mad house. Most of these traditions have been created artificially; their antiquity has been extended artificially deep into the past in order to claim historical supremacy over other institutions. This claim has often led to unwarranted wars and quarrels that have been detrimental to humanity. “The Invention Of Tradition” is a wonderful book that should not escape the attention of any serious reader of history.
We pay respectful tribute to the memory of the great patriarch among historians and historiographers.
C P Aboobaker - C.P. ABOOBACKER, editor of thanalonline, belongs to Calicut in Kerala. His interests include writing, publishing poems, essays, and many more literary things. Latest writing is about Channels and Globalizations. He is a retired professor of history.
e-mail: cpaboobacker@gmail.com
