Certain simple and stereotypical images of Wales strike an immediate chord with the public, both in Wales itself and beyond its borders. The first monograph to explore this period in Welsh history, The Nations of Wales argues that several competing images of Welshness were put in circulation during the Victorian and Edwardian decades, and proceeds to examine several of the most influential of these as they took the form of literary texts. With this book, M. Wynn Thomas opens up a period in Welsh cultural history that has been almost completely overlooked.