Nationalism

Out of all the books written about nations and nationalism in the past 20 or so years, this Alter's "Nationalism" has to be one of the best for use as a primary text or starting point. It is both concise and comprehensive in its analysis of the rise of nationalism as a political force first in Europe and then the rest of the world. The basic typology Alter uses is simple yet engenders a better understanding of the nationalism phenomenon. Alter's basic, and very plausible, thesis to explain nationalism's rise anywhere in the world is quite simple: generally some form of political, social or economic crisis (whether real or perceived) generally provides the impulse for peoples and their leaders to resort to and accept the particularly powerful political mythology offered by nationalism. Another very important aspect of this book is Alter's emphasis on the ease with which nationalism is merged with other political ideologies, left or right, radical or conservative, to create a very potent instrument for gaining and sustaining mass support by politicians, political parties and movements. His general conclusion is that nationalism is hardly a spent force, even if nation-states, usually the objective of nationalist movements, are beginning to be perceived as politically obsolete. In reading this book, one can see that nationalism may simply acquire different forms and different modes as the world economy and society become more globalized.

Alters book provides a short but thorough introduction on nationalism. Alters book is especially interesting to students who are interested in 19th and 20th century poltical history.Alter is a historian. His book deals -not surprising- with the history of nationalism. Strong emphasis is put on the differences between variants of nationalism that occured in (European) history during the last centuries. This makes the book rather encyclopedic. After having read the book it was clear what different types of nationalism there are, what nations are and how they use and need nationalism. But -like an encyclopedia- the book is rather dull to read. The reader may not miss a single line in order to keep up with the density of the information. And that is difficult if English is not your mother tongue.I read Alters book because my university teacher of political science had put this book on the list of compulsory books. The good thing about the book is that it made clear what nationalism is. (by emphasizing on the differences between the various forms of it) The bad part is that it deals -for a too great part- with definitions.Finally: Being a citizen of the Netherlands I would like to give a nationalistic comment on an inaccuracy in the book. The mother tongue of the Flemish (who live in the northern half of Belgium) is Flemish. The dictionary the Flemish use is the Dutch dictionary. Flemish is not, as Alter incorrectly states, considered a language. Flemish is a variant of Dutch. Who would argue that Austrians speak Austrian instead of German?Apart from this little mistake, Alters book is factually correct. (That's what my professors and fellow students said at least) If you're studying Palmer and Colton's History of the World or a similar book, then Alters 150 pages on nationalism will provide you a deeper insight.