When Nationalism Began to Hate: Imagining Modern Politics in Nineteenth-Century Poland
"....An extensively researched and perceptive analysis.the book is a very welcome addition to the historiographies of both Poland and nationalism, bringing to an expanded base of sources, fresh hypotheses, and skillful discussion to familiar topics.  It succeeds admirably in being at once provocative and authoritative in its scholarship and simultaneously empathetic and critical toward the subject matter."--American Historical Review"Porter's (stimulating and provocative study) is subtle and careful in the way it defines and describes. His work makes an important contribution to understanding Polish (and, indeed, east central European) nationalism and successfully revises some traditional interpretations and stereotypes."--Choice"Brian Porter is an eminent specialist in the history of Polish national consciousness. He has managed to objectively describe the complex genesis and the historical context of Polish nationalism. This work offers a new way of looking at the fundamental problem for all of Central and Eastern Europe." --Adam Michnik, Editor-in-Chief,Gazeta Wyborcza, Warsaw"Brian Porter takes a fresh look at the complex relationship between modernity and nationalism. He convincingly questions the common view of a link between democracy and modernity, and, instead, demonstrates that authority is an aspect rather than a negation of popular politics. He also adds to the ongoing reassessment of the categories 'left' and 'right' by probing into the concrete historical roots of the Polish right of the turn of the century. An important contribution to the body of works on nationalism in general." --Maria Todorova, University of Florida"Brian Porter has written an insightful and provocative account of the evolution of Polish nationalism in the nineteenth century. His impressive erudition and subtle perspective make this a compelling work of intellectual history, which will be of great interest to all scholars concerned with issues of national identity in modern Europe." --Larry Wolff, Boston College"Brian Porter's highly innovative study sets new standards of excellence for the study of modern Polish nationalism. It elucidates the evolution of Polish thought from the era of Mickiewicz to the consolidation of the national democratic camp in the 1890s, and sheds light on the vexed and vital issue of relations between the Polish majority and various minority groups, among them Polish Jewry. This book will be required reading for students of Polish history in particular and nineteenth-century East European nationalism in general." --Ezra Mendelsohn, The Hebrew University