This new study re-examines the relationship between the beginnings of the modern historical profession and the emergence of the nation-state in the nineteenth century. The monograph analyses the founding father of modern historiography Leopold von Ranke and his evolution as an historian, his self-perception and his increasingly dominant perceptions of the historian's craft and role in society and politics. Su particularly focuses on the tension between a commitment to an objective represent ion of the past and the allegiance to a nation. The approach suggests an original and important...