The Age of Capital: 1848-75

 In "The Age of Revolution", Eric Hobsbawm traced the transformation of European life between 1789 and 1848 by the "Dual Revolution" - the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution. In the years that followed the values developed which, taken together, made up the age of capital.

In this history of the years 1848-1875, he continues his analysis of the rise of industrial capitalism and the consolidation of bougeois culture. 

The extension of capitalist economy to the four corners of the globe, the mounting concentration of wealth, the migration of men, the domination of Europe and European culture made the third quarter of the 19th century a watershed. 

This is a history not only of Europe, but of the world. Hobsbawm's intention is not to summarize facts, but to draw facts together into an historical synthesis, to "make sense of" the period, and to trace the roots of the present world back to it.