Bandits

by Eric J. Hobsbawm

Bandits is a study of the social bandit or bandit-rebel - robbers and outlaws who are not regarded by public opinion as simple criminals, but rather as champions of social justice, as avengers or as primitive resistance fighters." "Whether Balkan haiduks, Indian dacoits or Brazilian congaceiros, their spectacular exploits have been celebrated and preserved in story and myth. Some are known only to their own countrymen; others, like Robin Hood, Rob Roy and Jesse James, are famous throughout the world. Setting the historical figures against the ballads, legends and films they have inspired, the author's examples range across the last four hundred years and come from Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Sociology, Crime, World History, Politics, Anthropology

240 pages, Paperback

First published November 28, 1969

About the author

Eric John Ernest Hobsbawm was a British historian of the rise of industrial capitalism, socialism and nationalism. His best-known works include his tetralogy about what he called the "long 19th century" (The Age of Revolution: Europe 1789–1848, The Age of Capital: 1848–1875 and The Age of Empire: 1875–1914) and the "short 20th century" (The Age of Extremes), and an edited volume that introduced the influential idea of "invented traditions". A life-long Marxist, his socio-political convictions influenced the character of his work.
Hobsbawm was born in Alexandria, Egypt, and spent his childhood mainly in Vienna and Berlin. Following the death of his parents and the rise to power of Adolf Hitler, Hobsbawm moved to London with his adoptive family. After serving in the Second World War, he obtained his PhD in history at the University of Cambridge. In 1998, he was appointed to the Order of the Companions of Honour. He was president of Birkbeck, University of London, from 2002 until his death. In 2003, he received the Balzan Prize for European History since 1900, "for his brilliant analysis of the troubled history of 20th century Europe and for his ability to combine in-depth historical research with great literary talent."

Reviews

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The only two chapters (apart from the appendices and updated postscript) that were most relevant and interesting, were the ones regarding the role the Russian Anarchist Bandits played during the early 20thC (but Hobsbawm really does not like them, being Anarchists and so on) up until the Civil War after the 1917 Revolution (oddly, Nestor Makhno is not mentioned in this short book), and the chapter on Expropriation - with an excellent short biography of an Anarchist called Francesc Sabaté Llopart, a refugee from the Spanish Civil War who later performed guerilla operations against Franco, working across the Pyrenees, who I suppose epitomised the 'Social Bandit', that this book heavily deals with and theorises upon. According to Bakunin (the famous Anarchist theoretician), a Bandit is:

the genuine and sole revolutionary - a revolutionary without fine phrases, without learned rhetoric, irreconcilable, indefatigable and indomitable, a popular and social revolutionary, non-political and independent of any estate.

This surmises the essence of what the book is about, but be prepared for no serious study of any particular famous Bandit or Outlaws - it is theoretical Marxist social study about the relationship between popular heroes and their class basis. And yes, Pancho Villa is mentioned (who still holds an almost romantic appeal in South America to this day), along with Zapata who had more of serious agrarian programme compared the military one of Pancho Villa. A bit dry and I was disappointed for no serious character/organisational study, instead more focusing and briefly mentioning some incredibly obscure bandits across the world, from South America right over to Indonesia. I give it 3.5, rounded down to a 3 star book because I found it severely lacking and not what I was looking for. Interesting nonetheless.

[Χριστόφορος Νικολάου · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite uneven and perhaps more scholarly than I would have liked it to be. It falls far from Hobsbawm's standard of combining great prose with scientific rigour and for the greatest part I was bored with repetitive comments on banditry and quite long lists of bandits' names.
Nonetheless, the book is quite original if not in style at least in the topic, which is quite obscure and it would not be an overstatement to say that this is the definite work on this subject.

There was one striking exception to the otherwise rather flat and dry writing. The chapter on the expropriators devoted almost entirely to "El Quico" (Francesc Sabaté Llopart) gave me goose bumps! I was so engaged in this man's story narrated by Hobsbawm that at some point I felt like I was reading a novel and not actual history. The book is worth buying only for this one.

[Jackson Cyril · Rating 5 out of 5]

The sharpest historical mind of the last century turns his eye on pre-Marxian revolutionaries--bandits, mafias, anarchist peasants and the like-- from 1789- 1900, and what emerges is a very colorful portrait of people, usually rural in origin--although Hobsbawm does spend a chapter on the urban "mob"--, who are usually not talked about in broad ranging histories on unrest and revolution: we see Italian peasants turn to the Mafia, Spanish peasants embrace Bakunian anarchism, English workers embrace various religious ideologies and rural peoplesfrom across Europe look to Robin Hood type figures to help deal with the troubles of modern industrial society. A compelling read.

[Leo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un essentiel vraiment pour comprendre les « vrais » robin des bois historiques

[Michael Kotsarinis]

Σε αυτή την πολύ ενδιαφέρουσα μονογραφία, ο γνωστός ιστορικός εξετάζει το φαινόμενο της "κοινωνικής", όπως την αποκαλεί ο ίδιος, ληστείας σε διάφορες χώρες και χρονικές περιόδους. Στην ουσία αναφερόμαστε σε αυτό που στη λαϊκή μας παράδοση λέμε "κλέφτες" και το προσλαμβάνουμε συνήθως στα πλαίσια της επανάστασης του 1821. Στην ουσία προκύπτει ότι το φαινόμενο αυτό είναι άρρηκτα δεμένο με τις εκάστοτε κοινωνικές συνθήκες που το γεννούν και δεν μπορεί να επεκταθεί πέρα από αυτές.

Δείτε περισσότερα στο Ex Libris.

[Sencer Turunç · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kitabın anlaşılır biçimde ortaya koyduğu bir husus; eşkıyalık, siyasetin bağlamı içinde anlaşılır hale gelmektedir. Bir taraftan bakınca itibarsız, serkeş bir hareket olarak da görülebilir. Ancak, bu isyanın sınıfsallığı da dikkat çekicidir. Ama bilinçdışında kalan bu sınıfsallık örneklerine bakınca devrimcidir demek neredeyse imkansızdır. Bununla birlikte önemli ölçüde de kültürel ve bireyseldir.

Özünde bir güç ve öç alma sembolüdür. Diğer bir ifade ile insan olduğu kadar bir semboldür de eşkıya. Özellikle toplumsal gerilim ve alt-üst oluş dönemlerinde çoğalıp yaygınlaşmaktadır. Yine dikkat çeken bir husus; eşkıyaların etrafında oluşan mitlerde bir avunma ve bir çarpıtma bir araya gelmektedir.

Son olarak, ontolojik anlamda bir yok oluşa ya da erimeye doğru yol alsa da, eşkıyalık romantizmi için modern-kapitalist dünyada hala yer bulunmaktadır.

Belki çok yerinde bir örnek olmayacak ama metindeki analizler çerçevesinde sınıfsal öfke ve ümitlerin eşkıya kavramında nasıl karşılık bulduğuna bakınca, bizim ülkemizde Sedat Peker'i son yıllarda dikkat çekici bir fenomene dönüştürenin ne olduğu üzerinde farklı bir açıdan düşünmek için de bir ip ucu ortaya çıkıyor.

Ve kitabı okurken seni de yad etmeden edemedik Arthur Morgan reyiz:)))

[Mickey Dubs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid scholarly monograph on a fairly esoteric topic - bandits!

Hobsbawm delivers a detailed overview of different types of banditry (from the avenger to the revolutionary) and the socio-political conditions in which gangs of brigands emerge without ever sacrificing the romantic quality that makes the subject so interesting.

If the words get too difficult, there's lots of nice pictures to gawk at. A good read.

[Μιχάλης Παπαχατζάκης · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ένα εξαιρετικό δοκίμιο του μεγάλου εγγλέζου διανοητή για το φαινόμενο της κοινωνικής ληστείας, δηλαδή της ληστείας που πέραν του προσωπικού ώφελους για τον ληστή ή την συμμορία αποτελεί και συνειδητή πράξη αντίστασης ή εκδίκησης στην κεντρική ή τοπική εξουσία. Η παρούσα έκδοση είναι η αναθεωρημένη του 1999 από τον ίδιο, στην οποία συμπεριέλαβε κεφάλαια νέα, όπως τον ρόλο των γυναικών και τις κριτικές προς αυτόν από άλλους κοινωνιολόγους (πολλές εκ των οποίων παραδέχεται ως βάσιμες).

Τα κείμενα βρίθουν από παραδείγματα της λαϊκής και επίσημης παράδοσης για το φαινόμενο της ληστείας που αναπτύχθηκε στις αγροτικές κοινωνίες ουσιαστικά όλου του κόσμου (αναφέρεται αρκετές φορές και ο κλεφταρματωλισμός της Ελλάδας) και παρήκμασε με την ανάπτυξη του βιομηχανικού καπιταλισμού, εξαιτίας του αποτελεσματικότερου ελέγχου και μέσων που κατείχε πια η εξουσία για τον έλεγχο της υπαίθρου. Ρομαντικές μυθοποιημένες μορφές, οι διάφοροι "Ρομπέν των Δασών" μπαίνουν στην σωστή τους διάσταση από τον Χομπσμπάουμ και εξηγούνται οι συνθήκες που έκαναν ενδημική ή πανδημική (στην Κίνα) την κοινωνική ληστεία.

Αναπτύσσει το προφίλ των ληστών και κατηγοριοποιεί μέσα από δεκάδες παραδείγματα ένα φαινόμενο παρηκμασμένο πια το οποίο όμως ακόμα γοητεύει- αν κρίνουμε από τις ταινίες και τα μυθιστορήματα που ολοένα βγαίνουν- και διακρίνει ετούτους από τους κοινούς κακοποιούς-ληστές. Ευχάριστο και πολύ εύκολο στην ανάγνωση, ένα διαμάντι της βιβλιογραφίας των κοινωνικών επιστημών.

[Pete · Rating 5 out of 5]

you are probably not as interested in doomed idealistic bozos but this a little treasure of their brave failures

Hobsbawm can be a little tendentious but we're all tendentious, he just owned his tendentiousness

also the postscript in the paperback I read hipped me to this Richard white article: http://history.msu.edu/hst321/files/2...

[Colin Thin · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5. Jumps from one case study to another impossible to follow, makes what should be a fascinating topic dull. Also a real lack of analysis of what crime is, treats it as a real thing, not something that is defined by the ruling class and the state. Very little discussion of why some things are defined as crime and others not, why some populations are considered criminal and others not, etc etc.

[JEAN-PHILIPPE PEROL · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dominé par le mythe de Robin des Bois, le bandit d'honneur fascine depuis huit cent ans non seulement dans le monde occidental - Amérique latine incluse mais aussi en Chine, en Inde ou dans le monde arabo-musulman. Grand historien, maitrisant bien son sujet et basé sur des recherches incluant des haidoucs d'Europe de l'Est aux cangaceiros brésiliens, Hobsbawn essaye de nous soumettre une analyse scientifique de ces mouvements. Malheureusement bridé par ses convictions philosophiques et politiques, il pêche cependant par un manque de précision dans la description des histoires individuelles alors que les bandits sociaux sont avant tout des aventures personnelles, et surtout peine à admettre le caractère profondément traditionaliste de ces révoltes.

[noryx2000 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nota: 6/10

Hobsbawm é um ótimo historiador para ler. As obras dele são muito completas e me agradam muito quanto a forma que ele observa e interpreta a história.

Em Bandidos, o autor estuda o fenômeno do bandido social, discorrendo sobre suas motivações, localizações, influências, contextos e consequências desse fenômeno nas sociedades em que ele ocorreu.

Acho que é interessante destacar que a obra gira entorno desse único fenômeno em específico. Isso acaba por deixar o livro um pouco repetitivo por vezes mas muito educativo, nonetheless.

É uma escrita bem acadêmica, evidenciado - sobretudo - pelo capítulo final onde ele rebate alguns argumentos c0ntrarários a sua tese. De qualquer forma, é interessante o entendimento do autor que compreendeu esse fenômeno que se repetiu em sociedades muito diferentes como Brasil, México, Colômbia, Itália, Balcãs ou China, de homens que indignados com a realidade social e a intervenção cultural estrangeira, tomaram para si o papel de bastiões de uma moral própria, sem influências de fora.

Muitas vezes sem nem pensar de forma revolucionária ou política, os crimes do bandido social abrem uma oportunidade para pensarmos na legitimidade da legislação dos Estados que sobrepõe a lei Divina ou as leis dos homens. Nesse mesmo sentido, me parece pertinente entender esse fenômeno como uma vontade incontrolável do homem em realizar a sua liberdade em contrário ao interesse de instituições sem rosto que reforçam o poder alheio.

Assim, o que retiro do livro é um grande aprendizado sobre esse fenômeno social que ocorreu e talvez ainda ocorra de forma muito diferente nos dias atuais. Hobsabawm é um ótimo historiador e continuarei interessado em conhecer mais obras dele.

[Angus McGregor · Rating 4 out of 5]

While not as narrative as I would have liked, Hobsbawm's study of 'social badits' as a social and political phenomenon is a remarkable synthesis of centuries of history across six continents.

That uneasy borderland between outlaw and rebel, inhabited by figures such as Robin Hood and Ned Kelly, illustrates why class is best conceived as a web of social relations and values.

The thesis research begins...

[Jack Singleton · Rating 4 out of 5]

To take a quote from the book slightly out of context, 'the book was hard going'. I knew next to nothing about the history of banditry before I started reading though, and I feel I've come away with an excellent introduction to the variety of forms it has taken. Surprisingly interesting.

[Sara Shocks · Rating 4 out of 5]

short but thorough look at social banditry in peasant societies, and I'm glad the postscript in this revised edition was starting to address new forms of social banditry as capitalism has been progressing

[lukas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chutná knizocka o sociálnych banditoch ako Jánošík, Robin hood a Pugačev

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I was a little boy, I was obsessed with cowboys. I'm told that he first thing I did when I got out of bed was strap on a holster and don my felt hat. I played constantly with little plastic figures molded into the shapes of wranglers and gunfighters and the native warriors that we then called "Indians." I was uninterested in the lariat-twirling plastic ranch hands, whom I scornfully called "ropers." I liked to fantasize about wielding power in the world with a phallic Peacemaker. Only "shooters" for me, thanks. For many years after, well into my teens, my father and a family friend liked to call each other "roper" in mock contempt.

Some years ago, I read an academic snoozefest about Westerns with a spiffy cover, called From Shane to Kill Bill: Rethinking the Western . I was very impatient with the book, but I subsequently adopted the central proposition wholesale, which is that almost every Western is in some way about the relationship of labor to capital. For example, in Shane, a wealthy rancher hires goons led by Jack Palance's character to exert his expansionist will with violence directed at the "sodbusters," who contemptibly earn their daily bread toiling in the dirt. As I correctly intuited when a small child, in the world of the Western, to work producing stuff is despicable and unmanly. The only way to escape the degradation of labor/capital relations is to become a man of violence, a shooter. In their fantasies, who wouldn't want to be deadly, sexy Alan Ladd rather than dull, stodgy Van Heflin? Almost by definition, though, a worker is usually incapable of standing up for himself without suffering disaster, as Elisha Cook's character fatally discovers.

Bandits is an examination of the historical phenomenon that Hobsbawm calls "social banditry," in which certain rural outlaws become folk heroes, protected and concealed by the communities where they live and operate. Such bandits, while they never really achieve a revolutionary consciousness or an articulated opposition to the power structures they are resisting, nevertheless become proto-revolutionaries. Robin Hood, who may or may not be historical, is the ultimate example of this type of figure to a Western audience, but iterations are myriad, e.g. Rob Roy, Ned Kelly, Jesse James, and Salvatore Giuliano. Pictured on the cover of Bandits is Pancho Villa, who started as a bandit and became a real revolutionary. Social bandits, Hobsbawm writes, are "men who are unwilling to accept the meek and passive social role of the subject peasant; the stiff-necked and recalcitrant, the individual rebels. They are, in the classic familiar peasant phrase, the 'men who make themselves respected.'" Ropers who made the choice to become shooters.

As a work of history, Bandits is flawed. I'm no historian, but I didn't think it had much academic rigor. I had thought Eric Hobsbawm was supposed to be a really big deal and I gotta say I wasn't super-impressed. I was totally interested, though. I love me some Ned Kelly and Pancho Villa stories (I'm still crazy about Westerns) and I enjoyed the attention he paid to haiduks in the Balkans because I once read a biography of Lady Jane Digby , who had a celebrated affair with just such a Balkan bandit/revolutionary. Hobsbawm is as swept away by the romance of these guys as I am. One chapter, ostensibly about "bandits as expropriators," is almost entirely an account of the career of 20th-century, Catalan bandit Francisco Llopart, an account in which Hobsbawm can barely conceal his breathless infatuation. While he acknowledges that the oldest ongoing tradition of social banditry is in China (Mao deliberately recruited bandits into the Red Army and said that his revolutionary aim was to "imitate the heroes of Li Shan Po," the author of a classic literary work about bandits.), Bandits is pretty West-centric. There is a chapter about women bandits that seems like it got tacked on for the reissue in 2000. I come from a long time ago, though, so I object to these limitations less than some might.

Overall, I enjoyed Bandits because it's about stuff that I like to think about, but I can't say that it made me see anything in a new way. I guess it's gratifying, though, that it reinforced one of my very first ideas about the world.

[J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Des " Haïdoucs " des Balkans en passant par Jesse James ou Billy the Kid, le grand historien britannique retrace, dans cet ouvrage passionnant, l'histoire mouvementée du " banditisme social ".

Robin des bois, bandit au grand cœur, qui vole aux riches pour donner aux pauvres, peut-il être considéré comme un simple " criminel " ? Hors-la-loi sans nul doute aux yeux du souverain, il apparaît en revanche, à l'intérieur de la société paysanne, comme un vengeur, un justicier et un héros. C'est la figure par excellence du " bandit social ", personnage qui hante la zone floue entre la criminalité organisée et la révolte sociale.
Des " Haïdoucs ", bandits des Balkans, en passant par Jesse James ou Billy the Kid, le grand historien britannique Eric Hobsbawm retrace, dans cet ouvrage passionnant, l'histoire mouvementée du " banditisme social ".
En prenant ses distances avec l'histoire officielle, il s'efforce d'inscrire le destin de ces marginaux dans une étude plus large des structures économiques et sociales qui conditionnent leur apparition, en mettant notamment en évidence le lien entre les " épidémies de banditisme " qu'il repère et d'intenses phases de crises économiques. Dans cette histoire de la désobéissance et de la violence, les personnages de bandits apparaissent dans une grande mesure comme les visages d'une réaction des communautés paysannes à la destruction de leur mode de vie.
Si Hobsbawm a voulu écrire l'histoire des bandits, c'est parce qu'il y reconnaît la généalogie primitives des mouvements sociaux et de la révolte politique. La question du bandit, figure de transition entre deux logiques et deux formes d'action reste la suivante, toujours actuelle : comment passer, pour des révoltés, de la délinquance à la politique ?

[Paco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Analiza el mito clásico del bandido social y pone muchos ejemplos a lo largo de la historia. Hace una buena distinción acerca de las variantes en el mito, establece las diferencias y similitudes entre bandidos y revolucionarios. Explica la función social tanto del bandido real como de su mito. También establece una distinción muy clara entre el bandido social y el delincuente a secas. Como siempre con Hobsbawm, deja queriendo investigar más. Su análisis va del tema al hecho histórico, no es una historia lineal y cronológica, sino a partir de los temas. Muy interesnte.

[Florencia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had read about this book, and then I found it. The stories about bandits and robbers, the idea of the social bandit as one that is both a hero and a 'villan' to his own class group. I love all that stuff.

[Marino Marino · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interessante abordagem sociológica sobre o tema do bandidismo, que me interessou particularmente em razão do meu interesse pelo cangaço e seus desdoramentos. Muito embora não concorde com o conceito básico do livro, não há como diminuir o valor e importância do estudo de Hobsbawn.

[Leonard Pierce · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the books that signaled Hobsbawm's arrival as a major force among historians. An interesting read on populist criminals that stands the entire traditional approach to banditry on its head.

[Readosaurus · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://readosaurus.blogspot.com/2019...

[LiB · Rating 2 out of 5]

Robin Hood, Pancho Villa, enormous numbers of obscure backwoods bandits you’ll never of heard of, are supposed to have robbed from the rich to give to the poor. Hobsbawm takes a swing at this confusion of myth and history from an historical Marxist perspective.

Hobsbawm’s central argument is for the historical existence of “the social bandit”, not ordinary criminals but people accepted by peasant communities as engaging in legitimate rebellion. At least that’s what I think the central argument of this book is. I suspect the argument was made more clearly in the chapter of Primitive Rebels that this book is apparently an expansion of, because there are a lot of references in this book to things the reader is already supposed to know.

Almost all the historical characters in this are obscure (even Hobsbawm says most of them are unknown outside remote, isolated backcountry districts) and the publication of this book founded the field of bandit studies, so I’m not sure why Hobsbawm writes in a way that suggests the reader should be already familiar with his subject and his arguments. It’s confusing and unsatisfying, especially because it seems like some of the outlaws would be very interesting if they weren’t just a list of names so marginal to history they’ll never even be googleable.

Hobsbawm was famous for the quality of his historical writing. Sadly, this is my only experience of him, and this is apparently not very representative. Even so far as I understand his argument I’m not convinced that the bandits he talks about are any different from normal criminal gangs, except in mythology and legend. It requires such an elaborate attempt to draw boundaries between bandit gangs rooted in peasant communities, and “criminal” groups that seem practically identical, and so many qualifications for each example of a social bandit that he offers - it seems to me that he might as well admit that extortion, theft and highway robbery of outsiders becomes a source of income in many economically marginalised groups, and sometimes those communities seek to justify or excuse it, especially if the robbers try and share out some of the benefits. Also, sometimes, in a time of social revolt, some of those bandits may join the revolt - Hobsbawm was singularly unsuccessful at showing that these “primitive rebels” are any more likely to participate than the general population.

Effectively, I suspect that Hobsbawm and other 60’s radicals had a romantic attraction to the idea of bandits as a kind of rebel, and on attempting to write a book exploring the concept, it became clear it didn’t stack up but Hobsbawm didn’t want to abandon it and it was too painful to clarify his thoughts.

[M- · Rating 1 out of 5]

Peak marxism, l’auteur a décidé d’enterrer la rigueur que requiert la démarche historique. Il fait des liens historiques entre tout et n'importe quoi et passe sans transition de l'évocation de la société de caste indienne à la Colombie du 20e siècle. L'ouvrage ayant été écrit en 1969, nous avons également le plaisir de lire des analyses surannées ("Rien ne montre que la pègre parisienne, considérable à l'époque ait fournit des militants ou sympathisants aux révolutions françaises des 18e et 19e siècles ; certes les prostituées, en 1871, étaient d'ardentes communardes, mais, en tant que classe, c'étaient moins des criminelles que des victimes de l'exploitation."), ainsi que ce type de considérations vaseuses : "Mais aucun homme ne peut échapper à son destin. Tout comme certaines femmes ne se réalisent pleinement qu'au lit, certains hommes ne se réalisent que dans l'action".

Je concède que ce livre a été publié pour la première fois il y a cinquante ans et qu'il est un témoin des pratiques de l'époque. Néanmoins deux annexes et une postface écrite en 2000 viennent compléter la réédition de cet ouvrage, et si Hobsbawm nous réserve dans les premières encore de belles perles ("Les femmes jouent également un autre rôle, moins connu, à l'intérieur du banditisme, en aidant les bandits et en leur fournissant un lien avec le monde extérieur. On peut supposer qu'elles aident surtout leurs parents, leurs maris ou leurs amants. Inutile d'en dire long sur cette fonction."), il défend longuement son projet face aux critiques soulevées par ses collègues universitaires et n'apporte pas réellement d'amendements à son texte.

[Carl Greatbatch · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this for the in-person Left Book Club in Manchester that met in October 2024.

I found this to be a very unsatisfying read to be honest, and probably wouldn't have finished it without the deadline of a book club to drive me on. It never really felt like there was a coherent theory about Bandits that was being pulled together, or perhaps it was just that Hobsbawm couldn't quite make his evidence about individual Bandits fit into a larger narrative.

Some of the individual stories were fascinating, and there's definitely plenty of meat for a juicy popular history on Banditry that could be written. The appendix on media representation of Bandits could also be expanded out to likely be a much more interesting book. The nugatory three page appendix on women bandits was so pointless as to be insulting. Not Hobsbawm's best work.

[Ruby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting for those wanted to know more about types of "bandits" through the last few centuries across the world (albeit with a clear focus on European and - secondarily - Latin American ones).

Filled with examples slightly too tedious for how much they add to the theory and lacking those where they are most necessary (especially when explaining key terms - I, for one, am quite annoyed the writer never explains what he actually means by a "Robin Hood" type of social bandit as there are so many iterations of the legend)

However, still worth a read for the longer theories and insights it provides (as long as you can ignore the ignorant and sometimes downright offensive language regarding cultures/times/personalities/genders other than the writers' own)

[Sónia Santos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Numa sociedade onde os homens vivem subordinados, o bandido recusa-se a viver curvado.

Um estudo inédito, na época, sobre o banditismo e os seus aspectos sociais e históricos. Um estudo que atravessa séculos e continentes. Da América Latina aos Balcãs ficamos a conhecer os seus bandidos, uns heróis, outros figuras míticas e outros uns meros salteadores.

Para se tornar uma lenda, um homem tem de ter contornos simples. Para ser um herói trágico, tudo nele tem de ser eliminado, deixando-o em silhueta contra o horizonte na postura quintessencial do seu papel, como Dom Quixote contra os seus moinhos de vento, e os pistoleiros do Oeste mítico, solitários numa rua vazia sob a luz branca do sol do meio-dia. Era essa a imagem de Francisco Sabaté Llopart.

[Carl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Because Hobsbawm is the author, I'm awarding 3 stars. Had the author been unknown, 2 stars would probably be my rating. Frankly I found the book mostly turgid & confusing. Hobsbawm has certain theories about the nature of bandits, rebels & "righters of social wrongs" in myth & flesh & blood but I damned if I can tell you what they are. Nevertheless, he does recount the careers of several of the flesh & blood variety & this section - which is sadly, too brief - is where the merit of the book lies. One bandit in particular, a Catalan whose career spanned the years of the Spanish Civil War as well as the post-war, Franco era was particularly interesting. I'd read a biography of that guy.

[Luisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, an informative book about the phenomenon of Social Bandits with references to bandits and myths about bandits across the world who show the traits exhibited by this type of criminal. He places the Social Bandit mostly in the context of rural societies and links it to peasants. However, the book is fairly loaded with examples, so much so and in such an unstructured, but repetitive style over the course of the chapters that it is hard to keep track.
Near the end he introduces one character that he goes on about in detail - Francisco Sabaté - and that is perhaps the most captivating chapter of them all. I wish he had done a few more of the other examples like this.