Bandits

Back in print, the groundbreaking classic on robber-rebels from "the best known living historian in the world" (The Times [London]). First published in 1969, the now-classic Bandits inspired a whole new field of historical study and brought its author popular acclaim. Bandits transcend the label of criminals; they are robbers and outlaws elevated to the status of avengers and champions of social justice. Some, like Robin Hood, Rob Roy, and Jesse James, are famous throughout the world, the stuff of story and myth. Others, from Balkan haiduks and Indian dacoits to Brazilian congaceiros, are known only to their own countries' people. In his celebrated study of these fascinating figures, now updated with a new introduction, Eric Hobsbawm, "one of the few genuinely great historians of our century," according to the New Republic, spans four hundred years and four continents, setting these folk heroes against the ballads, legends, and films they have inspired. The result is "a dazzling historical squib, fizzing with ideas and strange stories" (The Guardian).

Eric Hobsbawm taught until retirement at Birkbeck College, University of London, and since then at the New School for Social Research in New York.