AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
![]() |
Home |  Store List |  FAQ |  Contact Us |   | ||
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
![]() |
Title: National Identity by Anthony D. Smith ISBN: 0-87417-204-7 Publisher: Univ of Nevada Pr Pub. Date: May, 1993 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (2 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: best account of modern nationalism from Smith
Comment: This book contains many ideas propogated by Anthony Smith in many of his other books (i.e., _State and Nation in the Third World_, _The Ethnic Origin of Nations_, _Nations and Nationalism in a Global Era_) but combines them into one short volume.
Smith first focuses on the ethnic past of nations while also pointing out the differences between ethnic groups and modern nations. He moves through a short history of ethnic groups and nations, asking the important question of whether ancient Egypt, Israel and Greece were ethnic nations before examining the medieval cases of England and France. In all cases he puts emphasis on the importance of the homeland, a concept which can hardly be overemphasized in dealing with national identity.
He then moves to a typology of nationalism, claiming that 'nationalism-in-general is merely a lazy historian's escape'. He examines the oft-neglected cultural aspect of nationalism, one that was at its height in nineteenth-century Europe but which has been replaced in the news today by genocide and ethnic cleansing.
Moving on to the impact of colonialism, imperialism and decolonization on the development of national identity, Smith spends a good amount of time on non-European nations like Egypt, Ethiopia and India. He shows again how difficult it is to generalize about nationalism, especially outside Europe.
Finally, Smith looks to the future, asking the inevitable question of whether nations and national identity are doomed. He argues that any attempt to supersede national identity, e.g. the creation of a European identity around the EU, must inevitably draw in so many aspects of national identity that it is merely another form of national identity. Smith claims that, just as national identity has been with us for quite some time, it will remain for a while as well.
A well-argued and concise book.
Rating: 5
Summary: It is one of the best books about national identity
Comment: I liked. Smith writes not only definitions on traditional concepts (like nationalism) but also introduces an interesting analysis about ethnonationalism. I do not agree in some coments (like his concept of "lateral ethnic communities"), but it is still a good book. Roberto Remes
![]() |
Title: Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism by Benedict Anderson ISBN: 0860915468 Publisher: Verso Books Pub. Date: July, 1991 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
![]() |
Title: Nationalism (Oxford Readers) by John Hutchinson, Anthony D. Smith ISBN: 0192892606 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: February, 1995 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
![]() |
Title: Nations and Nationalism by Ernest Gellner ISBN: 0801492637 Publisher: Cornell Univ Pr Pub. Date: December, 1983 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
![]() |
Title: Nations and Nationalism since 1780 : Programme, Myth, Reality by E. J. Hobsbawm ISBN: 0521439612 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 29 October, 1992 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
![]() |
Title: Nationalism and Modernism: A Critical Survey of Recent Theories of Nations and Nationalism by Anthony D. Smith ISBN: 0415063418 Publisher: Routledge Pub. Date: November, 1998 List Price(USD): $33.95 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments