1st Edition

Myths and Nationhood

Edited By George Schopflin, Geoffrey Hosking Copyright 1997
    224 Pages
    by Routledge

    256 Pages
    by Routledge

    Myths are central to the way we live and how we define ourselves. In this pioneering book, a group of specialists--among them Anthony Smith, Norman Davies, Geoffrey Hosking and George Schopflin--look at the general and theoretical nature of myth on a universal basis and examine the specific myths of various nations. With nationhood and ethnicity at the centre of political attention, the book is timely in illuminating the deeper, underlying issues of nationalism that cause so much conflict throughout the world.

    Preface ,The Contributors ,Chapters ,The Role of Myth: An Anthropological Perspective, or:'The Reality of the Really Made-Up' ,Joanna Overing ,The Functions of Myth and a Taxonomy of Myths ,George Schopflin ,The 'Golden Age' and National renewal ,Anthony Smith ,The Myth of European Unity ,Sonja Puntscher Riekmann ,Myth-Making and National Identity: The Case of the GDR ,Mary Fulbrook ,Making History: Myth and the Construction of American Nationhood ,Susan-Mary Grant ,They Myth of Divine Election and Afrikaner Ethnogenesis ,Bruce Cauthen ,National Myths in the New Czech Liberalism ,Kieran Williams ,Polish National Mythologies ,Norman Davies ,National Mythology in the History of Ideas in Latvia: A View from Religious Studies ,Agita Misane and Aija Priedite ,The Myth of Zion among East European Jewry ,John D. Klier ,Myths of National History in Belarus and Ukraine ,Andrew Wilson ,The Russian National Myth Repudiated ,Geoffrey Hosking Davies

    Biography

    George Schopflin is Senior Lecturer in Politics at S.S.E.E.S., University of London. His books include Politics in Eastern Europe, 1945-1992 (1995). Geoffrey Hosking is Professor of Russian History and Deputy Director of S.S.E.E.S., University of London. His book Russia: Empire and People will be published by Harper Collins in 1997.