Nationalism and Modernism

Anthony D. Smith has produced a thorough and comprehensive survey of the diverse theories of nationalism against the background of debates about modernity. In a style accessible to the student and the general reader he traces the changing view of this hotly discussed topic within the current political, cultural and socioeconomic arena. Smith explores the essential arguments of all the major theoretical interpretations of nationalism, from the modernist approaches of Gellner, Nairn, Breuilly, Giddens and Hobsbawm to the alternative paradigms of van den Bergh and Geertz, Armstrong and Smith himself. He also analyses the contributions of such historians, sociologists and political scientists as Seton-Watson, Reynolds, Hastings, Horowitz and Brass. The survey concludes with an analysis of post-modern approaches to national identity, gender and nation, making it indispensable reading to all those interested in gaining full and authoritative knowledge of one of the most controversial phenomena of the twentieth century.