The Nation in the Village: The Genesis of Peasant National Identity in Austrian Poland, 1848-1914
"This volume makes a major contribution to the ever-growing literature of nationalism by emphasizing the plurality and dynamism of the process. It is well illustrated and indexed and includes an excellent bibliography."—Choice, January 2002, Vol. 39, No. 5"Iinsightful and innovative. . . . Stauter-Halsted's book is a fine example that draws on a dazzling array of printed and archival sources to reveal what peasants themselves were saying, writing, thinking, and dreaming about any future Polish nation. . . . The fresh approach to the village and identity will make a strong contribution to the literature on nationalism, peasant studies, and the public sphere. Stauter-Halsted's book should be essential reading for anyone interested in modern Europe, the peasantry, and national identity."—Chris J. Chulos, University of Helsinki. H-Net Reviews, April 2002"The Nation in the Village prompts a generous run of intriguing questions pertinent to (and often challenging) the prevailing historiography of nationalism and the peasantry in Poland."—Raymond Pearson, University of Ulster at Coleraine, Slavic and Eastern European Review"Keely Stauter-Halsted's new monograph combines the best of intellectual worlds—it is not only richly informed by theoretical and historical works on identity formation, civil society, subaltern studies, peasant nationalism, and cultural studies but by extensive materials from archives in Warsaw, Krakow, and Lvov. The result of her intellectual efforts in an insightful study of the political, social, and cultural transformation of Galician serfs into members of the Polish nation during the postemancipation period and how the peasants themselves were instrumental in this transformation. . . . She set the bar quite high for those who wish to investigate the creation, establishment, and maintenance of a Polish national identity."—Melissa K. Bokovoy, University of New Mexico, Slavic Review, Vol. 62, No. 1, Spring 2003"A short review cannot do justice to his rich and complex work. Stauter-Halsted uses a wide variety of sources from archives, to contemporary literary and ethnographic works, as well as press from the period. The author also makes sophisticated use of contemporary scholarship on the peasantry in places as diverse as China, Russia, and Ireland. . . . For anyone interested in Polish history, the development of national identity in East-Central Europe, or peasant studies, Stauter-Halsted's Nation in the Village is highly recommended."—Theodore R. Weeks, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, Canadian Slavonic Papers, Vol. XLIII, No. 4, December 2001"This study makes an important contribution to the growing literature on nationalism in Eastern Central Europe."—Peter Brock, University of Toronto, The Polish Review, Vol. 47, No. 3, 2002"Keely Stauter-Halsted's nuanced methodological approach is not only comparative but also broadly interdisciplinary. Original and compelling, The Nation in the Village represents the most sophisticated analysis of nationalism and national identity among the Polish peasantry in Galicia to date."—Robert Blobaum, West Virginia University"What this impressive book does so effectively is to describe the changes in the mentality of the Galician peasantry in relation to changes in its socio-economic and political environment. Subtly argued and eminently readable, The Nation in the Village takes a dynamic approach to an important issue."—John-Paul Himka, University of Alberta