How long does it take to read The Age of Extremes?
a history of the world, 1914-1991
The Age of Extremes by E. J. takes about 11 hours 30 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 11 hours 30 minutes
A week or two of reading
First published 1994. 627 pages, about 172,425 words.
23 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 19 hours 10 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 11 hours 30 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 7 hours 11 minutes |
The page count is the median across 11 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
In this masterful and highly accessible study of our times, one of the world's leading historians sheds exciting new light on our understanding of the twentieth century, with incisive assessments of events that have marked this turbulent period. Eric Hobsbawm, whose own life spans this century, deftly examines from both personal and scholarly perspectives such events as the great economic depression of the 1930s, the Cold War, the rise of military regimes, revolutionary changes in the arts, and technological advances in the sciences. Divided into three parts - The Age of Catastrophe, 1914-1950; The Golden Age, 1950-1973; and The Landslide, 1973-1991 - the book looks at the legacy of the two world wars, the end of colonialism and the growing importance of the Third World, as well as the collapse of the Soviet Union. Hobsbawm ponders the influence of the economic and social upheavals of the third quarter of the twentieth century, which, he states, brought about the "most profound revolution in society since the Stone Age." In conclusion, Hobsbawm looks to the next millennium, pointing up the dilemmas posed by a burgeoning population, destruction of the environment, and the growing economic disparity between rich and poor. Writes Hobsbawm, "Our world risks both explosion and implosion. It must change." With an astonishing command of historical details and data, The Age of Extremes is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding the cultural and social context in which we live.
Subjects: Modern History, World history, communism, history, economy, capitalism
