Bøker av Anthony D. Smith

In this thought-provoking new book, Anthony Smith analyses key debates between historians and social scientists on the role of nations and nationalism in history. In a wide-ranging analysis of the work of historians, sociologists, political scientists and others, he argues that there are three key issues which have shaped debates in this field: first, the nature and origin of nations and nationalism; second, the antiquity or modernity of nations and nationalism; and third, the role of nations and nationalism in historical, and especially recent, social change. Anthony Smith provides an incisive critique of the debate between modernists, perennialists and primordialists over the origins, development and contemporary significance of nations and nationalism. Drawing on a wide range of examples from antiquity and the medieval epoch, as well as the modern world, he develops a distinctive ethnosymbolic account of nations and nationalism. This important book by one of the world's leading authorities on nationalism and ethnicity will be of particular interest to students and scholars in history, sociology and politics.

For the last two centuries, nationalism has been a central feature of society and politics. Few ideologies can match its power and resonance, and no other political movement and symbolic language has such worldwide appeal and resilience.

In The Antiquity of Nations, Anthony Smith provides a fresh interpretation of the character of modern nations. Departing from conventional wisdom, he argues the case for a deeper understanding of their character, based on an ethno--symbolic analysis of the myths, memories, symbols and traditions of pre--modern ethnic communities.

A work on the concept of social change that puts forward the paradigm of historical change as an alternative to the functionalist theory of evolutionary change. It shows that, in attempting to provide a theory of social change, functionalism reveals itself as a species of 'frozen' evolutionism.

This book, first published in 1992, measures and explains the performance of major competitor countries in international financial services. The author assesses performance on the basis of the shares of the major institutional players in the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, and Europe.