To the dismay of many commentators - who had hoped the world was evolving into a more tolerant and multicultural community of nations united under the umbrellas of supranational movements like the European Union - the nationalism that was such a potent force in the history of the 20th-century has made a comeback in recent years. Now, more than ever, it seems important to understand what it is, how it works, and why it is so attractive to so many people.
A fine place to start any such exploration is with Ernest Gellner''s seminal Nations and Nationalism, a ground-breaking study that was the first to flesh out the counter-intuitive - but enormously influential - thesis that modern nationalism has little if anything in common with old-fashioned patriotism or loyalty to one''s homeland. Gellner''s intensely creative thesis is that the nationalism we know today is actually the product of the 19th-century industrial revolution, which radically reshaped ancient communities,
