The Age of Empire: 1875-1914

This volume discusses the evolution of European economics, politics, arts, sciences, and cultural life from the height of the industrial revolution to the First World War. This ending to a trilogy of books about the long 19th century by the author begins with the Long Depression and transitions into an analysis of the cultural Belle Epoque, a period simultaneously and contradictorily of both peace and imperial domination. The author, an intellectual admirer of Lenin, traces the development of capitalism and argues ultimately that the Russian Revolution, the defining moment of the twentieth century as the French Revolution had been for the previous century, forced the western capitalst countries to pursue the welfare state.