In this volume, Eric Hobsbawn continues his analysis of the 20th century, asking questions about our inheritance from the century of conflict and its meanings for the years to come. Looking back on the 1990s to learn something of the new era, he finds the distinctions between internal and international conflicts and between state of war and state of peace disappearing. He goes on to analyze the crisis of the multi-ethnic state and shows the distortions of history involved in the creation of its myths. He expresses his anxiety over the system of international relations between states that have so far ruled by colonialism and nuclear terror. Hobsbawn then asssesses the impact that a popular global culture has had on every aspect of life, from happiness and social hierarchy to nutrition and the environment.