Product Review

The Age of Capital: 1848-1875 is a book by Eric Hobsbawm, first published in 1975. It is the second in a trilogy of books about "the long 19th century" (coined by Hobsbawm), preceded by The Age of Revolution: Europe 1789-1848 and followed by The Age of Empire: 1875-1914. A fourth book, The Age of Extremes: The Short Twentieth Century, 1914-1991, acts as a sequel to the trilogy. Hobsbawm analyzed the 19th and 20th century processes of modernization using what he calls the twin revolution thesis. This thesis recognized the dual importance of the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution as mid-wives of modern European history, and through the connections of colonialism and imperialism world history.