Nationalism

By Elie Kedourie

Book Overview

This edition of Elie Kedourie's Nationalism brings back into print one of the classic texts of our times. With great elegance and lucidity, the author traces the philosophical foundations of the nationalist doctrine, the conditions which gave rise to it, and the political consequences of its spread in Europe and elsewhere over the past two centuries. As Isaiah Berlin wrote of the original edition, "Kedourie's account of these ideas and their effect is exemplary: clear, learned and just." In a new introduction the author reflects upon the origins of the book and the relationship of his argument to contemporary nationalist conflicts.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0631188843
• ISBN13: 9780631188841
• Release Date: January 1993
• Publisher: Blackwell Publishers
• Length: 154 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.

Customer Reviews

flawed ideological history of nationalism

Elie Kedourie obviously has an axe to grind about nationalism - as a Jew he was exiled from Iraq and settled in London. In this book he traces the ideological development of nationalism from Kant, Herder and Fichte, claiming that nationalism was invented when Fichte gave his Addresses to the German Nation in the early nineteenth century. Kedourie unfortunately places far too much emphasis on Kant - who was much more concerned with the individual than the community - and not enough on Hegel. Kedourie also neglects such important writers as Rousseau and Mill and does not attempt to trace just how Fichte et al. influenced specific nationalists. Nevertheless this is a well-written polemic against nationalism from someone who dealt with it first hand.