Nation and Identity offers a new and urgently needed analysis of the concept of national identity. Ross Poole shows how the nation became a fundamental organizing principle of social, political and moral life in the period of early modernity, and has been a presupposition of most liberal, republican and democratic theory ever since.

Identity is the key to a provocative and original treatment of freedom, citizenship, multiculturalism and the claims of indigenous people. While the centrality of identity is widely assumed, it is rarely as closely examined as in Poole's forceful presentation. A fascinating final chapter exposes the tensions between universalism and particularism in a post-national world.

Nation and Identity provides a sustained encounter with the most important recent work on nationalism from a number of disciplines. It will be essential reading for anyone interested in understanding the central place of nationalism and national identity in the modern world and in coming to terms with their transformation or displacement.