Eric Hobsbawm, the great intellectual and historian, died today, aged 95. You can read obits here and here and tributes here. His three books, Age of Revolution, Age of Empire, and Age of Capital should be read by all who want an insight into how the world developed from 1789 to 1914. His work has amazing breadth and is very readable.
Below is a Newsnight interview (January 2012) with Hobsbawm.