本书论述民族与民族主义在欧洲近两百年历史中的种种表现及其内涵之演变。作者回避了对民族的概念和标准等问题的纠缠，而是着重于它们的变迁与转型，并借助于民族主义的研究来说明民族问题的复杂性。欧洲近现代史是因民族主义兴起而重新拼制版图的历史，各种民族与民族主义的意识也影响到周边地区与殖民地，因此，民族与民族主义的发展演变构成了这段历史的主旋律。本书对了解民族与民族主义在世界范围内的发展演变状况具有很高的参考价值。

序言
导论
第一章 民族新义：从革命到自由主义
第二章 民众观点：民族主义原型
第三章 政府观点
第四章 民族主义转型：1870-1918
第五章 民族主义最高峰：1918-1950
第六章 20世纪晚期的民族主义
英汉译名表

十九世纪，一个以自由主义资产阶级为主轴的世纪，一个改造世界的世纪。于革命烟硝中诞生，在资本积累上茁壮，随帝国扩张而臻于巅峰、乍然崩解。
资本的年代是一出由资产阶级领衔主演的进步大戏。火车汽船等新科技将场景从欧洲拉至世界，衣着素朴的主角们，自信而冷静地演出这个不闻起伏跌宕，但见壮阔宏伟的胜利时代。
继一段激昂短暂的革命前奏后，平和稳健的资本主义凯歌回荡全球，在经济一片大好繁荣时代里，掌控资本科技的胜利者，主宰了抱持传统的失败者。大批农民远离沦为商品的土地，流向城市、工业，在无垠的环境里缓慢凝结其工人意识，受人敬重的资产阶级，在其坚实的家庭堡垒中，创造出自由主义的不朽传奇。进化论引领着科学奋进，写实感压制了艺术创意。
一八七五年，一场空前漫长的大萧条，悄悄滑入帝国的年代。

九十一歲的歷史學家，他的生命長度幾乎等同於「恐怖的」二十世紀。雖然如此，他自己也誠實地說：個人的生活經驗其實與二十世紀的許多恐怖事件之間，存有明顯的矛盾，因為至少一般人的生活仍講得出好笑話。
身為一位歷史學家，而不是小說家，他的筆觸充滿熱情卻不煽情，敘事方式叼叼絮絮卻不試圖勾勒一個戲劇化的人生，或者特意營造某種感染力。可是跟隨他信手拈來的吉光片羽，才發現他側面認識了許多影響二十世紀發展的重要人物不論是政治方面、思想方面或社會行動方面。他也許不是某個事件的直接參與者，卻在某種機緣下近身觀察，加上身為歷史學家對文獻的嫻熟掌握，幫助他速描事件中人們的處境，以及每個世代、每個地區的變動痕跡，讓我們體會「那些年代、那些人、那些事」。你會發現，這是一個平凡的人生，但不只是「他的」人生是一個趣味橫生的「二十世紀」人生。

Eric Hobsbawm traces with brilliant anlytical clarity the transformation brought about in evry 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 half a century.

The splendid finale to Eric Hobsbawm's study of the nineteenth century, 'The Age of Empire' covers the era of Western imperialism and examines the forces that swept the world to the outbreak of World War I - and shaped modern society.

A major treatment of the crucial years 1848-1875 - a penetrating analysis of the rise of capitalism throught the world. In the 1860s a new word entered the economic and political vocabulary of the world: "capitalism". The global triumph of capitalism is the major theme of history in the decades after 1848. It was the triumph of a society which believed that economic growth rests on competitve private enterprise, on success in buying everything in the cheapest market (including labour) and selling it in the dearest. An economy so based, and therefore nestling naturally on the sound foundations of a bourgeoisie composed of those whom energy, merit and intelligence had raised to their position and kept there, would - it was believed - not only create a world of suitably distributed material plenty but of ever-growing enlightenment, reason and human opportunity, an advance of the sciences and the arts, in brief a world of continuous and accelerating material and moral progress.

In this collection of illuminating, incisive and thought-provoking essays, Eric Hobsbawm examines every aspect of the issues that have inspired the greatest debate - not only among politicians, academics and commentators but among all of us - in recent years: that is, the effects of globalisation, the plight of democracy and the threat of terrorism. As we are only too aware, all of these have the power to affect our daily lives, from the state of our economies to the fear of murderous bomb attacks in our cities. Hobsbawm discusses war and peace in our lifetime, problems of public order, anarchy and terrorism, nationalism and the changing nature of the nation-state, and the future prospects for democracy, setting out the historical background and the lessons it can offer us. Above all, he turns his piercing gaze to the Middle East and Western imperialism. Engaging, erudite and demonstrating his characteristically firm grasp of the facts and statistics, Hobsbawm's essays are indispensable to our understanding of the world we live in.

In these essays, about a quarter of them previously unpublished, Eric Hobsbawm reflects upon the theory, practice and development of history and its relevance to the modern world. These wide-ranging papers reflect Professor Hobsbawm's lifelong concern with the relations between past, present and future. They deal, among many other subjects, with the problems of writing history, its abuses and the historian's responsibilities; with the history of society and 'history from below'; with Marx and current historical trends or fashions; with Europe, the Russian Revolution and the descent into a world-wide barbarism that, increasing for most of the twentieth century, threatens to destroy the civilisation we have inherited from the European Enlightenment of the eighteenth century. These essays reveal a passionate belief in the importance of studying history, as well as displaying the incisive analysis, the breadth of allusion and the distinctive viewpoint for which this great historian is justly famous.

Many of the traditions which we think of as very ancient in their origins were not in fact sanctioned by long usage over the centuries, but were invented comparatively recently. This book explores examples of this process of invention - the creation of Welsh and Scottish ‘national culture’; the elaboration of British royal rituals in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; the origins of imperial rituals in British India and Africa; and the attempts by radical movements to develop counter-traditions of their own. It addresses the complex interaction of past and present, bringing together historians and anthropologists in a fascinating study of ritual and symbolism which poses new questions for the understanding of our history.

This outstanding history describes and accounts for Britain's rise as the world's first industrial world power, its decline from the temporary dominance of the pioneer, its rather special relationship with the rest of the world (notably the underdeveloped countries) and the effects of all these on the life of the British people.

Nations and Nationalism since 1780 is Eric Hobsbawm's widely acclaimed and highly readable enquiry into the question of nationalism. Events in the late twentieth century in Eastern Europe and the Soviet republics have since reinforced the central importance of nationalism in the history of the political evolution and upheaval. This second edition has been updated in light of those events, with a final chapter addressing the impact of the dramatic changes that have taken place. Also included are additional maps to illustrate nationalities, languages and political divisions across Europe in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.