本书论述民族与民族主义在欧洲近两百年历史中的种种表现及其内涵之演变。作者回避了对民族的概念和标准等问题的纠缠，而是着重于它们的变迁与转型，并借助于民族主义的研究来说明民族问题的复杂性。欧洲近现代史是因民族主义兴起而重新拼制版图的历史，各种民族与民族主义的意识也影响到周边地区与殖民地，因此，民族与民族主义的发展演变构成了这段历史的主旋律。本书对了解民族与民族主义在世界范围内的发展演变状况具有很高的参考价值。

序言
导论
第一章 民族新义：从革命到自由主义
第二章 民众观点：民族主义原型
第三章 政府观点
第四章 民族主义转型：1870-1918
第五章 民族主义最高峰：1918-1950
第六章 20世纪晚期的民族主义
英汉译名表

本书重点讨论作为一种意识形态，但又成为一种社会运动和象征性语言的民族主义，并且比较全面地探索各种民族主义的内涵、变种及来源。通过简要地概论民族主义的概念、评述当代西方民族主义研究中的主要理论贡献和现存的学术成果，作者全面地考察了有关民族主义概念的理论、意识形态和历史的不同棱面，以及在这一领域里的主要解释范式。同时作者还从历史学、社会学、政治学、国际关系学乃至人类学的不同角度对与民族主义相关的概念如民族(natlon)、族群(ethnic glroup)、民族认同(national identity)、族群认同(ethnic identity)、民族的国家(national state)等进行了颇为系统的考察，并在此基础上概括性地阐释以作者为主要代表人物的族群一象征主义(eth nic—symboIism)民族主义理论观点。

Many of the traditions which we think of as very ancient in their origins were not in fact sanctioned by long usage over the centuries, but were invented comparatively recently. This book explores examples of this process of invention - the creation of Welsh and Scottish ‘national culture’; the elaboration of British royal rituals in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; the origins of imperial rituals in British India and Africa; and the attempts by radical movements to develop counter-traditions of their own. It addresses the complex interaction of past and present, bringing together historians and anthropologists in a fascinating study of ritual and symbolism which poses new questions for the understanding of our history.

There are outstanding studies of nationalism as a history of nationalistic ideas, as in the writings of Hans Kohn; there are competent descriptions of nationalism as a force in politics, as by the Study Group of the Royal Institute of International Affairs headed by Edward Hallett Carr; and there are important works organizing the many facts about nationalism in terms of some particular problem, such as Quincy Wright's monumental Study of War. But there has seemed to be no answer to the question why nationalist ideas met with wide and strong response at certain times and places, and with almost no response at others.
In certain areas, economic growth has led to national unification; in others to greater national diversity. Why did national sentiments develop in one direction but not in the other? In certain cases, individuals can and do change from membership in one people to membership in another; in other situations they seem almost powerless to do so, and nationality appears as if it were some objective fact beyond the decisions of individuals.
What, then, is ethnic nationality? Under which conditions will a government or a political organization find it an asset? Under which a liability? What is the relation of this nationalisty to economic life, to incomes, opportunities, and expectations? And how may it become so important to individuals as to override their economic interest and even their interest in self-preservation?
To make a beginning at answering these questions we need studies about objective as well as the subjective sides of nationalisty, and about the long-run trends of national assimilation or differentiation.
The present study represents an attempt toward such a theory.