Michael Herzfeld is Ernest E. Monrad Research Professor of the Social Sciences in the Department of Anthropology at Harvard University. He is the author of eleven books, the most recent of which was Siege of the Spirits: Community and Polity in Bangkok (2016, University of Chicago Press). He is a former president of the Modern Greek Studies Association and of the Society for the Anthropology of Europe.

Preface to the First Edition

Introduction: Historicizing a History

Prologue to the Greek Edition
Alki Kyriakidou-Nestoros

Chapter 1. Past Glories, Present Politics
Chapter 2. Extroversion and Introspection
Chapter 3. National Character, National Consciousness
Chapter 4. Attack and Reaction
Chapter 5. The Creation of a Discipline
Chapter 6. Expansion and Collapse

Conclusion: Conclusions and Emergences

Epilogue: Laying the Foundations of the Anthropology of Europe: An Ethnography of Culture Theory
Sharon Macdonald

Appendix A: Politis' Folklore Taxonomy
Appendix B: Basic Chronology

References
Index

When this work - one that contributes to both the history and anthropology fields - first appeared in 1982, it was hailed as a landmark study of the role of folklore in nation-building. It has since been highly influential in reshaping the analysis of Greek and European cultural dynamics. In this expanded edition, a new introduction by the author and an epilogue by Sharon Macdonald document its importance for the emergence of serious anthropological interest in European culture and society and for current debates about Greece's often contested place in the complex politics of the European Union.