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Represented By: Ivan Mulcahy
He was educated at Cambridge, Rice University, Harvard University and the École Normale Supérieure in Paris. He is currently Professor of Contemporary History at the University of Edinburgh.
Much of Emile’s early research focused on France, in particular the transformation of French politics since the 1970s, Franco-British relations in the 20th century and the complex legacies of colonialism. In recent years, he has moved beyond France to think about how we might imagine alternative frameworks for understanding contemporary politics. This has resulted in several publications on the history of immigration, and it has laid the foundations for a new project on democracy, difference, and the rise of identity politics.
Emile recently completed a major intellectual biography of the Marxist historian, Eric Hobsbawm, to be published by Harvard University Press in 2026. He uses Hobsbawm’s remarkable life and work to reflect on the history of twentieth-century global Marxism, as well as the nature of historical writing and the role of the intellectual.
Emile’s other great passion is music. He holds an LRSM performing diploma on the classical guitar and, for many years, taught the instrument to unsuspecting students of all ages.
Represented By: Ivan Mulcahy
He was educated at Cambridge, Rice University, Harvard University and the École Normale Supérieure in Paris. He is currently Professor of Contemporary History at the University of Edinburgh.
Much of Emile’s early research focused on France, in particular the transformation of French politics since the 1970s, Franco-British relations in the 20th century and the complex legacies of colonialism. In recent years, he has moved beyond France to think about how we might imagine alternative frameworks for understanding contemporary politics. This has resulted in several publications on the history of immigration, and it has laid the foundations for a new project on democracy, difference, and the rise of identity politics.
Emile recently completed a major intellectual biography of the Marxist historian, Eric Hobsbawm, to be published by Harvard University Press in 2026. He uses Hobsbawm’s remarkable life and work to reflect on the history of twentieth-century global Marxism, as well as the nature of historical writing and the role of the intellectual.
Emile’s other great passion is music. He holds an LRSM performing diploma on the classical guitar and, for many years, taught the instrument to unsuspecting students of all ages.
Author: Emile Chabal
Genres: Subject-Led Non-fiction
Eric Hobsbawm (1917–2012) was one of the foremost European intellectuals of the twentieth century.
He published hundreds of articles on modern history and culture, and his books became canonical works and bestsellers on both sides of the Atlantic. His crystal-clear writing, vast erudition, and ability to make his Marxist analysis digestible to a wide audience brought him worldwide renown.
Yet Hobsbawm was no academic hermit. Through his globetrotting journalism, he was embedded in an extraordinary web of politicians, activists, and fellow intellectuals across Europe, South Asia, and the Americas, including Manmohan Singh, Che Guevara, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Fernand Braudel, E. P. Thompson, Arno Mayer, and Salvador Allende. Emile Chabal traces the origins of Hobsbawm’s ideas and most famous writings by exploring his scholarly foundations, delving deep into the archives to uncover hidden links and unexpected conversations that shaped his pathbreaking work.
Going well beyond the Ages series of modern history books for which Hobsbawm is best known, Chabal offers the first substantial interpretation of Hobsbawm’s entire body of writing. Indeed, The Age of Hobsbawm is also a trove of unique insights into the generations of Marxist writers with whom Hobsbawm was in conversation—authors whose work continues to shape political debates globally.