Attempts to expose the hidden underside of Western nationalism. Arguing that the true history of the nation began earlier, the author shows how state builders set about deliberately constructing a sense of national solidarity to support their burgeoning authority.

"Marx has a case to argue and he argues it forcefully, thereby significantly advancing a debate that has tended, in recent years, to languish in a smug and unquestioning liberal consensus. A major contribution to the interdisciplinary literature on nationalism." --Partha Chatterjee, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta

"This book is a major addition to the social science literature on nationalism; it is also a powerful argument against many of the most celebrated contemporary writers on the subject... The central point of the book is that nationalism results from a process of exclusion (most other writers have stressed inclusion), and particularly from internal discord over religion. As both a political scientist and a scrupulous historian, Marx uses this powerful scheme to explain and differentiate events that occurred in Spain, France, and England in the age of domestic religious conflicts. In this remarkable book, it is Sant Bartholomew whom the author proposes as the patron of nationalism. A grim view, but a rich and persuasive argument."--Foreign Affairs "...a broad-ranging comparative narrative that will contribute to ongoing discussion and debate about the evolution of nationalism both as an ideology and as a practical system of power....Marx's engaging and provocative book deserves to be read, questioned, and considered by all who are concerned with the development of state power and national identity."--Muse "...a broad-ranging comparative narrative that will contribute to ongoing discussion and debate about the evolution of nationalism both as an ideology and as a practical system of power....Marx's engaging and provocative book deserves to be read, questioned, and considered by all who are concerned with the development of state power and national identity."--Muse "Marx has a case to argue and he argues it forcefully, thereby significantly advancing a debate that has tended, in recent years, to languish in a smug and unquestioning liberal consensus. A major contribution to the interdisciplinary literature on nationalism."--Partha Chatterjee, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta "Rejecting almost every previous account of nationalism-- including mine!--Anthony Marx provocatively locates its European origins in rulers' strategies of building support for their regimes by ruthless labeling and exclusion of those regimes' enemies. Marx's work will make students of contemporary nationalism rethink their subject."--Charles Tilly, author of From Mobilization to Revolution and Durable Inequality "This book is a major addition to the social science literature on nationalism; it is also a powerful argument against many of the most celebrated contemporary writers on the subject... The central point of the book is that nationalism results from a process of exclusion (most other writers have stressed inclusion), and particularly from internal discord over religion. As both a political scientist and a scrupulous historian, Marx uses this powerful scheme to explain and differentiate events that occurred in Spain, France, and England in the age of domestic religious conflicts. In this remarkable book, it is Sant Bartholomew whom the author proposes as the patron of nationalism. A grim view, but a rich and persuasive argument."--Foreign Affairs

Anthony Marx is the 18th President of Amherst College. Previously, he was Professor of Political Science and Co-Director of the Center for Historical Social Science at Columbia University. He is the author of Making Race and Nation: A Comparison of the United States, South Africa, and Brazil, winner of the Barrington Moore Prize, and co-winner of the Ralph Bunche Award.