The death on October 1 of Eric Hobsbawm at the age of 95 marks the end of an era.  Indeed, Marc Mulholland calls him “the Twentieth Century’s Greatest Historian.”  (The Guardian‘s obituary is here; more comments here).

Eric Hobsbawm, 1917-2012 (Photo BBC) 

For those who fear that his passing also heralds the demise of Marxist history, there is comforting news from England, where reports of a young generation enthralled by Hobsbawm will certainly make many a (male) historian’s heart beat faster.