A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Globalization: Nationalism, Meet Religion

Abstract

For nearly a century scholars have recognized nationalism as a dominant force in the modern world. Among the early notable analyses was that of Carlton J.H. Hayes, who begins by asserting: “The most significant emotional factor in public life today is nationalism. Of the current age it is the mark at once intense and universal” (Hayes 1933, 1). Is it dormant anywhere in the second decade of the twenty-first century? There is, understandably, a glut of theoretical, comparative, and synthetic treatments of nationalism from a number of disciplines. Furthermore, the historiography on nationalism for nearly every conceivable ethnic-national entity, past and present, and their subgroups and transformations is mind-boggling. The brief bibliographies following each of the chapters in The Call of the Homeland, alone, as a guide to this plethora of material, would justify its purchase for each and every library. (There will be further remarks concerning the cost of this book, as it pertains to its potential audience and impact.)