Table of Contents

Acknowledgements viii

1. The Salience of Nationalism 1

2. Group Solidarities before the Nation-State 20

3. The Birth and Expansion of Nationalisms 55

4. Nationalist Ideologies and Violence 89

5. The Omnipotence of Triviality 120

6. Beyond National Identity 155

7. The Future of Nationalisms 180

Notes 199

Bibliography 208

Index 229

About the Author

Sinisa Malesevic is professor of sociology at University College Dublin, Ireland, and a member of the Royal Irish Academy.

Reviews

"The book is an excellent, theoretically sophisticated yet eminently readable piece of literature, stimulating reflection and causing surprise with the non-obviousness of the reader’s own deeply internalised convictions." (Social Space) "Highly recommended" (Choice) "Nation-states and nationalism remain hotly contested topics. What are they and where do they come from? Malesevic's approach is both original and arresting: to stress not culture or biological descent but organization, ideology, and transformations of solidarity. This casts the debate in a novel form, and is bound to give this book a wide and attentive readership."
—Krishan Kumar, University of Virginia "Theoretically sophisticated yet eminently readable, this book provides an excellent introduction to the study of nationhood and nationalism."
—Rogers Brubaker, University of California, Los Angeles