The first & best of EJ Hobsbawm's 'Age of' series. Covers all the most familiar aspects (including a great deal before 1789) of the Industrial Enlightenment - or, as Hobsbawm memorably calls it, the 'Dual Revolution', the interaction of British industrial transformation with French political upheaval. The book is getting dated (first published 1962) & really seems a little conventional now, in its dutiful Sixties critique of all things Enlightenment.

Despite this the book remains unavoidable to date, a genuine must-read, having helped to direct all subsequent Industrial Enlightenment research.
Despite this the book remains unavoidable to date, a genuine must-read, having helped to direct all subsequent Industrial Enlightenment research. ( )

This prominent historian surveys the period of sixty years from the reign of Louis XVI to the period of Marx and Engels' famous manifesto. The work includes 64 pages of black and white illustrations.

[The author] traces with brilliant analytical clarity the transformation brought about in every sphere of European life by the Dual Revolution – the 1789 French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution that originated in Britain. This enthralling and original account highlights the significant sixty years when industrial capitalism established itself in Western Europe and when Europe established the domination over the rest of the world it was to hold for a century.

I may be too ignorant to comment upon what appears to be an academically praised book, but for me, as an interested outsider, this book failed to make history live.
It reminded me of the turgid books of my youth: sitting in a history lesson with a host of facts, figures and dates sailing over my, ever more comatose head. I am sure that Mr Hobsbawm is to academe what Bart Simpson is to over-aged school children but, sadly, his style does not reach this amateur historian. ( )

Hobsbawn wrote this book for those who wish to understand how and why the world has come to be what it is and where it is going. This is not a narrative history, and requires thought. The book is complex, but considering the topic and the length of the book, he has to be. But if your are an educated reader...you will like this book; and learn a lot from it about "isms" and how we use to live. ( )