Bandits (book)

1969 book by Eric Hobsbawm

Bandits

Cover photo is of Pancho Villa wearing bandoliers

Author| Eric Hobsbawm
Country| United Kingdom, United States
Language| English
Subject| History, Criminology, Social banditry
Genre| Nonfiction
Publisher| Weidenfeld & Nicolson, Pantheon Books

Publication date

| 1969, 1981
Pages| 185

Bandits is a book by Eric Hobsbawm, first published in 1969 by Weidenfeld & Nicolson and re-issued in revised and expanded form in 1981 by Pantheon Books. It focuses on the concept of bandits within the mythology, folklore, and literature of Europe, specifically its relation to classical Marxist concepts of class struggle.

## Summary[edit]

Eric Hobsbawm sets out to explore and analyze the history of banditry and organized crime and its relationship to class structures of agrarian societies. Hobsbawm specifies a specific form of crime that fit into the category of social bandit, which represented groups of young men, landless peasants, free-men, and military deserters. Social bandits are distinguished from other forms of organized crime in how the majority peasantry perceived the bandits as rebels who opposed the unjust system of feudalism. Among social bandits there are three main historical categories: that of "The Noble Robbers", "The Avengers", and the "haiduks". The Noble Robbers are the romanticized concept of noble criminals who fight injustice and have a large popularity with the lower classes; key figures include Robin Hood, Diego Corrientes Mateos and Juro Janosik.[1][2][3] The Avengers are bandits whose acts of cruelty and violence distinguish them as people both feared and respected by common people. Often they had very few redeeming qualities yet commanded respect because of their brutality.

## References[edit]

1. ^ Fronczak, Joseph. "Hobsbawm's Long Century". Jacobin. Jacobin. Retrieved 24 September 2018.
2. ^ Hobsbawm, Eric (12 March 1981). "Bandits". Pantheon.
3. ^ Anderson, Jon Lee. "Hobsbawm and the Bandits". The New Yorker. The New Yorker. Retrieved 24 September 2018.

## External links[edit]

* https://thenewpress.com/books/bandits

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

National|

* Germany

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