An exceptional set of scholars assess every aspect of the most influential theory of nationalism.

Introduction John A. Hall; Part I. The Making of the Theory: 1. Thoughts about change: Ernest Gellner and the history of nationalism Roman Szporluk; 2. Ernest Gellner's diagnoses of nationalism: a critical overview, or, what is living and what is dead in Ernest Gellner's philosophy of nationalism Brendan O'Leary; Part II. The Classical Criticisms: 3. Real and constructed: the nature of the nation Miroslav Hroch; 4. The curse of rurality: limits of modernisation theory Tom Nairn; 5. Nationalism and language: a post-Soviet perspective David Laitin; 6. Ernest Gellner's theory of nationalism: some definitional and methodological issues Nicos Mouzelis; Part III. Bringing Politics Back In: 7. Nationalisms that bark and nationalisms that bite: Ernest Gellner and the substantiation of nations Mark Beissinger; 8. Nationalism and modernity Charles Taylor; 9. Modern multi-national democracies: transcending a Gellnerian oxymoron Alfred Stepan; Part IV. Wider Implications: 10. Nationalism and civil society in Central Europe: from Ruritania to the Carpathian Euroregion Chris Hann; 11. From here to modernity: Ernest Gellner on nationalism and Islamic fundamentalism Dale F. Eickelman; 12. Myths and misconceptions in the study of nationalism Rogers Brubaker.