The Age of Empire - Eric Hobsbawm

Eric Hobsbawm’s study of the culminating years of the old European order provides a fascinating view of a society that came to dominate the world, but which could not resolve its own internal contradictions. The European nations--the “Great Powers” -- were able to carve out vast empires for themselves in the less-developed areas of the globe but were unable or unwilling to deal successfully with profound changes at home. These changes, ranging from the spread of democracy to the rise of labor to the growing rivalries between states and the resultant arms race, culminated in the cataclysm of 1914 and the end of the old order.