Achieving prevalence as an ideology in the political and social ferment of late 18th-century Europe and America nationalism first found expression during the course of such historical upheavals as the American and French Revolutions. Its founders and early sponsors--Rousseau Herder Fichte Korais and Mazzini--looked to nationalism as the manifestation of modern humanity s most essential aspirations: autonomy unity identity. Born of notions regarding popular freedom and sovereignty that had been gathering momentum for generations it conjured up images of a modernizing West at once hungry for change and yearning for a return to age-old concepts of fraternity and ancient heritage. Since that time nationalism having taken on countless different dimensions remains a vital and dynamic force for change--whether for good or otherwise. Despite only recently becoming the subject of scholarly debate nationalism has been the focus of a truly prodigious amount of writing. This important Oxford Reader makes the topic more accessible by offering a broad authoritative treatment of the key contributions to the subject while giving unprecedented depth to recent debates and issues. Edited by two of the field s most influential scholars the readings are representative of the vast array of experience and scholarship that have shaped the concept of nationalism for over two centuries. From Ernest Renan s What is a Nation? written in the 1880s to the more current views of the 1990s Nationalism gathers under one cover an impressive array of writing on everything from imagined communities to ethno-regional movements. In no other volume will students of politics history sociology anthropology international relations and cultural studies have access to such a definitive appraisal of one of the modern world s most influential--and explosive--ideas.