I finally finished Eric Hobsbawn's classic work on agrarian bandits whose role as social rebels comes mostly from fiction rather than historical reality. Robin Hood, Wilhelm Tell and Zorro are not based on historic examples. Bandits were bandits. The backwardness and lack of civil society in agricultural societies made law enforcement very expensive. Peasants were always vulnerable to the hit-and-run tactics of bandits and were thus forced into a grudging acceptance of some predation. What is commendable is the incredible world-wide sourcing of bandit stories by Hobsbawn with examples from Latin America, China, India, Ukraine, Spain, Eastern Europe ... The overall message is mixed though: The social rebel Hobsbawn went out to discover does not actually exist in reality. The criminals are criminals not because they hold a grudge against "the man" but because crime looks attractive as a career in their view. It is probably the human desire for a good story that turns common criminals into the tragic heroes of ballads. ( )