Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (1983; rev. ed. 2016)

Imagined Communities, Benedict Anderson's brilliant book on nationalism, forged a new field of study when it first appeared in 1983. Since then it has sold over a quarter of a million copies and is widely considered the most important book on the subject. In this greatly anticipated revised edition, Anderson updates and elaborates on the core question: what makes people live and die for nations, as well as hate and kill in their name?What makes people love and die for nations, as well as hate and kill in their name? While many studies have been written on nationalist political movements, the sense of nationality--the personal and cultural feeling of belonging to a nation--has not received proportionate attention. In this widely acclaimed work, Benedict Anderson examines the creation and global spread of the 'imagined communities' of nationality.Anderson explores the processes that created these communities: the territorialization of religious faiths, the decline of antique kingship, the interaction between capitalism and print, the development of vernacular languages-of-state, and changing conceptions of time. He shows how an originary nationalism born in the Americas was modularly adopted by popular movements in Europe, by the imperialist powers, and by the anti-imperialist resistances in Asia and Africa.This revised edition includes two new chapters, one of which discusses the complex role of the colonialist state's mindset in the develpment of Third World nationalism, while the other analyses the processes by which, all over the world, nations came to imagine themselves as old.(First published by Verso 1983; This edition published by Verso 2016, 2006) What are the imagined communities that compel men to kill or to die for an idea of a nation? This notion of nationhood had its origins in the founding of the Americas, but was then adopted and transformed by populist movements in nineteenth-century Europe. It became the rallying cry for anti-Imperialism as well as the abiding explanation for colonialism. In this scintillating, groundbreaking work of intellectual history Anderson explores how ideas are formed and reformulated at every level, from high politics to popular culture, and the way that they can make people do extraordinary things. In the twenty-first century, these debates on the nature of the nation state are even more urgent. As new nations rise, vying for influence, and old empires decline, we must understand who we are as a community in the face of history, and change. 'imagined Communities' Examines The Creation And Function Of The 'imagined Communities' Of Nationality And The Way These Communities Were In Part Created By The Growth Of The Nation-state, The Interaction Between Capitalism And Printing And The Birth Of Vernacular Languages In Early Modern Europe. Introduction -- Cultural Roots -- The Origins Of National Consciousness -- Creole Pioneers -- Old Languages, New Models -- Official Nationalism And Imperialism -- The Last Wave -- Patriotism And Racism -- The Angel Of History -- Census, Map, Museum -- Memory And Forgetting -- Travel And Traffic: On The Geo-biography Of Imagined Communities. Benedict Anderson. First Published: Verso, 1983. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 230-233) And Index.