Patrick Garner- Age of Empire 9-13

In the last chapters of Hobsbawm book, he speaks of the arts and sciences of the early 20th century. He first discusses the transformation of art. Upper class art was now available to the bourgeoisie. Now people had more time to sepnd with in the art realm. People bcame intersested in new hobbies such as music and writing. A lot of these new art productions took on the avante-garde taste, which was art in a way that pushed the boundaries of societal norms. Hobsbawm then discusses how science was studied and questioned very deeply. Scientists really questioned the methods that they relied on up until now. Einstein was an example of someone who really tested the limits of science. Chapter 12 discusses how european powers began to heavily stack themselves miltia wise to try and claim a position as a global power. All of this lead to WWI. He also speaks of how the United States reached a time of great prosperity. The final chapter explores the aftermath of the world war. Basicly, he speaks of the time of peace that the world had after the world war. He also discusses possible reasons for the first world war in a time of such prosperity for the world.

One of the things that really interested me was the avante-garde art period. It was intersesting that this was the first time that people became brave enough to push societal norms. I guess it was because this was the first time that people really were able to have hobbies instead of doing the bare minimum to survive in centuries past. All society had this chance now, not just the upper class. It is also interesting to me of how the Avante-Garde taste evolved up until now. I feel like all movies and music and things of this sort really push the limits constantly. It almost doesnt seem normal to not push the limits now. Maybe we have too much time on our hands now.

One of the huge debates was how WWI could happen at such a time of prosperity and economic growth. I am still unsure of this but I think this would be a good discussion in class to see what everyone thinks about the topic.