This classic volume tells the story of nationalism, the fusion of patriotism with ethnic consciousness. It documents the emergence of nationalism in the modern world and the way that nationalism has become a substitute for religion over the past two centuries. Nationalism, for Hayes, draws its power from cultural and social factors, primarily language. Second to language are historical forces that stem from an accumulation of a people's remembered or imagined experiences.

Hayes bases his observations on historic European examples. He sees nationalism as a religion, reacting against...