Description
Book SynopsisThe two main themes of this selection of articles by Professor Hroch are the process of nation formation during the 19th century, especially in the case of 'smaller' European nations, i.e. those without statehood, and the social and political aspects of the transition from a pre-modern, feudal and traditional society to a modern capitalist one and the uneven pace of this change in the West and East of Europe. The author argues that we cannot study the process of nation-formation as a mere product of some nebulous 'nationalism'; we have to understand it as a part of social and cultural transformation, as a component of modernization of European societies, even though this modernization did not occur synchronically and had its regional specificities. Many of the papers focus specifically on the Czech case, but throughout there is an emphasis on comparative history.
Table of ContentsContents: Introduction. Part 1 National movements: The social composition of the Czech patriots in Bohemia 1827-1848; From ethnic group toward the modern nation: the Czech case; Zionism as a European national movement; De l'ethnicité à la nation: un chemin oublié vers la modernité; The social interpretation of linguistic demands in European national movements; Social and territorial characteristics in the composition of leading groups of national movements; Real and constructed: the nature of the nation; National minority movements and their aims. Part 2 Nationalism: How much does a nation depend on nationalism?; Nationalism and national movements: comparing the past and present of Central and Eastern Europe; An unwelcome national identity or what to do about 'nationalism' in post-Communist countries; Eugen Lemberg's 'nationalismustheorie'. Part 3 Historical Heritage: Historical belles-lettres as a vehicle of the image of national history; Historical heritage: continuity and discontinuity in the construction of national histories (with J Malecková); The Czech discourse on Europe, 1848-1948. Part 4 Social Change: Die rolle des Zentraleuropäischen Handels im Ausgleich der Handelsbilanz zwischen Ost- und Westeuropa 1550-1650; Die rezeption der Französischen Revolution als Indikator des Fortschritts?; Zur Typologie der europäischen Revolutionen. Einige Ãœberlegungen zur nicht bestehenden Diskussion; Criteria and indicators of uneven development; Index.
