Faith in Nation: Exclusionary Origins of Nationalism

In a startling departure from the unquestioning liberal consensus that has governed discussions of nationalism for the past quarter century, Marx exposes the hidden underside of Western nationalism. Arguing that the true history of the nation began two hundred years earlier, in the early modern era, he shows how state builders set about deliberately constructing a sense of national solidarity to support their burgeoning authority. Key to this process was the transfer of power from local to central rulers; the most suitable vehicle for effecting this transfer was religion. Religious intolerance, specifically the exclusion of religious minorities from the nascent state, provided the glue that bound together the remaining populations. Exposing the West's idealization of its exclusionary past, Marx forcefully undermines the distinction between a Western nationalism that is civic and tolerant by definition and an oriental nationalism founded on ethnicity and intolerance.

"…a broad-ranging comparative narrative that will contribute to ongoing discussion and debate about the evolution of nationalism both as an ideology and as a practical system of power….Marx's engaging and provocative book deserves to be read, questioned, and considered by all who are concerned with the development of state power and national identity."–Muse

"Marx has a case to argue and he argues it forcefully, thereby significantly advancing a debate that has tended, in recent years, to languish in a smug and unquestioning liberal consensus. A major contribution to the interdisciplinary literature on nationalism."–Partha Chatterjee, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta

"Rejecting almost every previous account of nationalism– including mine!–Anthony Marx provocatively locates its European origins in rulers' strategies of building support for their regimes by ruthless labeling and exclusion of those regimes' enemies. Marx's work will make students of contemporary nationalism rethink their subject."–Charles Tilly, author of From Mobilization to Revolution and Durable Inequality