This compelling book argues that it is wrong to assume that nations are culturally uniform. Hutchinson provocatively asserts that resting on older diverse ethnic identities, nations adapt from the unpredictable challenges of modernity, and such plurality makes them prone to cultural wars.

Introduction An Alternative Model Organisation PART ONE: ZONES OF CONFLICT Introduction The Modernist Critique Ethnosymbolists and Recurring Factors Ethnogenetic Factors Ethnie as Social and Political Actors The Rise of States and Modern Processes Ethnic Continuities and Modern Nations Conclusions PART TWO: THE REVIVALIST REVOLUTION Introduction Romanticism as an Ethnocultural Movement National Revivalism and Social Transformation Moral Innovators National Sacrifice and Mythic Overlaying Conclusions PART THREE: CULTURAL WARS Introduction Cultural Wars in Modern Nations The Roots of Conflict Significance and Consequences Polarisation The Elaboration of a National Identity Persisting Differences Conclusions PART FOUR: HOT AND BANAL NATIONALISMS Introduction The Rise of the Mass Nation Nationalism from below Patterns of Mass Identification with the Nation Fluctuating Identities Banal Nationalism Conclusions PART FIVE: NATIONALISM AND THE CLASH OF CIVILISATIONS Introduction Globalisation and Nationalism Regionalism European Union and the National States The Clash of Civilisations Conclusions