Modern Roots: Studies of National Identity

This volume offers a view of national identity as a cultural system of information which bestows historical meaning and social cohesion on modern political communities. The contributors reveal how diverse and vast the themes, practices and symbols used to encourage national identification can be, but they also show how the making of national identity corresponds to globally shared expectations: the longing for authenticity, the search for historical continuity and rootedness in a common territory. National identities are diverse and respond to change, but the ways in which nation-building seeks to provide the masses with a sense of belonging are strikingly similar all over the world.