David McCrone lays out the key issues and debates around the subject which is too often obscured and polemic. Among the topics covered are:

- Classical and contemporary theories of nationalism

- Nationalism and ethnicity

- Nationalism and the construction of history

- Nationalism and the nation-state

- Colonial and post-colonial nationalisms

- Neo-nationalism and post-communists nationalism.

David McCrone is Professor of Sociology, and Convener of the Unit for the Study of Government in Scotland, at Edinburgh University.