Michael Moynihan reviews a book by someone he really dislikes:
In 2003, the New York Times declared Eric Hobsbawm “one of the great British historians of his age, an unapologetic Communist and a polymath whose erudite, elegantly written histories are still widely read in schools here and abroad.” The Spectator, a right-leaning British magazine, gushed that Hobsbawm is “arguably our greatest living historian—not only Britain’s, but the world’s.” The Nation anointed him “one of Aristotle’s ‘men of virtue.’ “
That the 94-year-old Mr. Hobsbawm has long championed dictatorial regimes hasn’t diminished his standing among the intelligentsia or within the establishment he so obviously loathes. In 1998, Queen Elizabeth II bestowed upon him a Companion of Honour — “In action faithful and in honour clear.” But even many of Mr. Hobsbawm’s admirers find his slippery defenses of communism discomfiting.
To his critics, his ideological dogmatism has made him an untrustworthy chronicler of the 20th century. The British historian David Pryce-Jones argues that Mr. Hobsbawm has “corrupted knowledge into propaganda” and is a professional historian who is “neither a historian nor professional.” Reading his extravagantly received 1994 book, “The Age of Extremes: The Short Twentieth Century, 1914-1991,” the celebrated Kremlinologist Robert Conquest concluded that Mr. Hobsbawm suffers from a “massive reality denial” regarding the Soviet Union.
All supporters of such despicable regimes should be forced to live within them for 5 years, as one of the proles of course. They should not be able to cavort with the rich and powerful of said countries, but should be forced to toil alongside the brothers and sisters they so much admire. Perhaps after 5 years they will have the rose coloured glasses knocked off of their faces and the realism of how such a country well and truly sucks ground into their communist loving brains.
Comment by Dwayne — August 20, 2011 @ 21:39