Why read The Ethnic Origins of Nations?

Book cover of The Ethnic Origins of Nations

Book description

This book is an excellent, comprehensive account of the ways in which nations and nationhood have evolved over time. Successful in hardback, it is now available in paperback for a student audience.

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Ethnic Origins of Nations as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

John Hutchinson

Author

This is the major book of my teacher, Anthony D. Smith, which seeks to explain why nationalism has become the dominant ideology of much of humanity.

In it, he argues that nationalism seeks to answer profound questions of identity arising from the crises generated by the global secular, political, and economic revolutions of modernity. Although nationalism is a predominantly modern phenomenon, its power rests on its ability to evoke and renovate the myths, symbols, and memories of older ethnic communities to legitimise political demands for autonomy.

Smith takes the symbolic world of nationalists seriously, particularly their preoccupation with national golden…

From John's list on The best books about nationalism and identity.