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Biographical note
Miroslav Hroch is an Emeritus Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at the Charles University in Prague. He has written several books on modern nationalism and nation formation, including Social Preconditions of National Revival in Europe and In the National Interest: Demands and Goals of European National Movements of the Nineteenth Century: A Comparative Perspective.This is a rare example of a successful, rigorous comparative history.
English Historical Review
Hroch's work remains impressive for the sweep of the comparative discussion and significant for what he uncovers about the dynamics of emergent national movements by analysing the similarities as well as differences among them.
Journal of Modern History
He offers a masterly survey of the various theoretical approaches to nation formation, also paying attention to major works that are generally ignored in Western literature . An outstanding achievement, providing the best introduction to date of the processes of nation formation.
Archiv für Sozialgeschichte
Hroch's work has now influenced several generations of scholars interested in many different parts of the world . [they] have generalized Hroch's insights to other parts of the world. Nothing more persuasively demonstrates the usefulness of a scholarly idea than its applicability to unforeseen circumstances.
Nationalities Papers
Carefully reconstructing the social backgrounds of the patriots who joined clubs and societies, subscribed to the first newspapers, and gave money to the cause, Hroch provided the first empirical sociology for nationalist movements. His conception of nation formation was both materialist-economic, social, and cultural factors coming together to create a larger space of social communication-and subjective-the formation of a 'memory' of some common past, treated as 'destiny' of the group.
- Ronald Grigor Suny, Slavic Review's Winter 2017 issue
Rather than adding another theory of nationalism to this maelstrom of ideas, Miroslav Hroch has created a remarkable synthesis, integrating apparently competing frameworks into a coherent system that tracks the historical genesis of European nations through the sundry paths of the nation-forming processes of the nineteenth century. Combining a comparative perspective on nation-formation with invaluable theoretical insights, European Nations is essential for anyone who wants to understand the historical roots of Europe's current political crisis.