Description
Book SynopsisIn this thought-provoking new book, Anthony Smith analyses key debates between historians and social scientists on the role of nations and nationalism in history.
Trade Review'Drawing examples from across the globe and providing succinct summaries of key ideas about nationalism developed by philosophers, sociologists and historians from Herder and Rousseau to Homi Bhaba and William McNeill, this is a stimulating and insightful essay by one of the foremost experts on nationalism studies today.'
English Historical Review "For thirty years, Anthony D. Smith has published extensively on the phenomenon of the 'nation' and has a global reputation in this field." History
Table of ContentsForeword by Yosef Kaplan vii
Introduction 1
1 Voluntarism and the Organic Nation 5
Organic and Voluntarist Nationalism 6
Cultural Determination and the Political Ideal 10
Ethnic and Civic Nations 15
Cultural Primordialism 21
Conclusion 25
2 The Nation: Modern or Perennial? 27
The Modernist Orthodoxy 27
Modernist Historiography 30
The Perennialist Critique 34
Continuous Perennialism 35
Recurrent Perennialism 40
Ancient Nations? 41
Conclusion: Problems with Perennialism 50
3 Social Construction and Ethnic Genealogy 52
Invented Traditions, Imagined Communities 53
A Critique of Social Constructionism 61
An Ethnosymbolic Account of Nations and Nationalism 62
Conclusion 76
Bibliography 89
Index 101
