Nations and their Histories highlights the importance of the past and its uses in the formation of modern nations and national identities. It looks at the construction of different national historiographies as well as present representations of the past in the political and cultural life of nations, covering the five continents. It features contributions from some of the most prominent scholars in the field of nationalism such as Terence Ranger, Robert Gildea, Umut Özkirimli and John Breuilly.

Introduction; S.Carvalho & F.Gemenne
PART I: NATIONAL HISTORIES AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF NATIONS
Nationalism and the Making of National Past; J.Breuilly
The Comparative History of National Historiographies in Europe; S.Berger
'Colonizing' the Past: History and Memory in Greece and Turkey; S.A.Sofos & U.Özkırımlı
The Politics of Memorialization in Zimbabwe; T.Ranger
Beginning the World Over Again: Past and Future in American Nationalism; D.H.Doyle
Rediscovering Columbus in Nineteenth-Century American Textbooks; C.Cadot
Social Darwinism and Nationalism in Mexico; D.A.Brading
PART II: PRESENT REPRESENTATIONS OF NATIONAL HISTORIES
Eternal France: Crisis and National Self-Perception in France, 1870-2005; R.Gildea
Cuisine, Nationality and the Making of a National Meal: The English Breakfast; K.O'Connor
National Restoration and Moral Renewal: The Dialectics of the Past in the Emergence of Modern Israel; A.Gal
Crafting Iranian Nationalism: Intersectionality of Aryanism, Westernism and Islamism; A.Kian & G.Riaux
The Evolution of State Discourses on the Nationalist Political Party in Post-Colonial Cameroon; C.Nsoudou
Refashioning Sub-National Pasts for Post-National Futures; J.Wenzel
A Season of War: Warriors, Veterans and Warfare in American Nationalism; S-M.Grant
Sinocentrism and the National Question in China; E.Hyer
Nation, History, Museum: The Politics of the Past at the National Museum of Australia; B.Wellings
Conclusion; S.Carvalho & F.Gemenne

SUSANA CARVALHO is a research student in the Department of Government, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK. From 2006 to 2007, she was the Deputy Editor of Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism and the Co-Chair of ASEN.

FRANÇOIS GEMENNE is a research fellow and junior lecturer with the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI) at Sciences Po in Paris, France. From 2005 to 2006, he was the Managing Director of Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism.