Nations and Nationalism (The Macat Library)

To the dismay of many commentators - who had hoped the world was evolving into a more tolerant and multicultural community of nations united under the umbrellas of supranational movements like the European Union - the nationalism that was such a potent force in the history of the 20th-century has made a comeback in recent years.Now, more than ever, it seems important to understand what it is, how it works, and why it is so attractive to so many people.A fine place to start any such exploration is with Ernest Gellner's seminal Nations and Nationalism, a ground-breaking study that was the first to flesh out the counter-intuitive - but enormously influential - thesis that modern nationalism has little if anything in common with old-fashioned patriotism or loyalty to one's homeland.Gellner's intensely creative thesis is that the nationalism we know today is actually the product of the 19th-century industrial revolution, which radically reshaped ancient communities, encouraging emigration t