The Idea Of Nationalism: A Study In Its Origins And BackgroundIn this sixtieth anniversary edition of The Idea of Nationalism, Craig Calhoun probes the work of Hans Kohn and the world that first brought prominence to this unparalleled defense of the national ideal in the modern West. At its publication, Saturday Review called it "an enduring and definitive treatise.... [Kohn] has written a book which is less a history of nationalism than it is a history of Western civilization from the standpoint of the national idea." This edition includes an extensive new introduction by Craig Calhoun, which in itself is a substantial contribution to the history of ideas. The Idea of Nationalism comprehensively analyzes the rise of nationalism, the idea's content, and its worldwide implications from the days of Hebrew and Greek antiquity to the eve of the French Revolution. As Calhoun explains, Kohn was particularly qualified to undertake this study. He grew up in Prague, the vigorous heart of Czech nationalism, participated in the Zionist student movement, studied the question of nationality in multinational cultures, spent the World War One years in Asian Russia, and later traveled extensively in the Near East studying the nationalist movements of western and southern Asia. The work itself is the product of Kohn's later years at Harvard University. In The Idea of Nationalism, Kohn presents the single most influential articulation of the distinction between civic and ethnic nationalism. This has shaped nearly all ensuing research and public discussion and deeply informed parallel oppositions of early and late, Western and Eastern varieties of nationalism. Kohn also argues that the age of nationalism represents the first period of universal history. Civilizations and continents are brought into ever closer contact; popular participation in politics is enormously increased; and the secular state is ever more significant. The Idea of Nationalism is important both in itself and because it so deeply shaped all the work that followed it. After sixty years his interpretations and analyses remain acute and instructive. |
From inside the book
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... human . ... It was a stage of national or universal history " ( p . 44 ) . For Kohn , Zionism must not stand for ... humanity . " 12 Of course , in the end Jewish particu- larism came to be associated less with such outward looking ...
... Humanity is the character of our race , " Herder wrote , " we receive it only as a potential- ity , and we must develop ... human individual that do not acknowledge this constitutive role for culture , that are often atomistic , and that ...
... humanity at large , each contribut- ing to the fulfillment of human potential in diverse ways . Has the world not enough space for all of us ? Do not the countries exist peace- fully beside one another ? Cabinets swindle one another ...
... Human Nature , " pp . 21-47 in Human Agency and Lan- guage , vol . 1 ( Cambridge , Mass .: Cambridge University Press , 1985 ) . 63. Habermas , " Struggles for Recognition in the Democratic Constitutional State , " pp . 107-48 in ...
... human mind and the ordering of human society is the most fascinating intellectual discipline ; within its range , nationalism has had a unique appeal for the author , because closeness to national movements and sympathy with their ...