Imagined Communities

Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism

By: Benedict Anderson

Narrated by: Kevin Foley

Imagined Communities, Benedict Anderson's brilliant book on nationalism, forged a new field of study when it first appeared in 1983. Since then it has sold over a quarter of a million copies and is widely considered the most important book on the subject. In this greatly anticipated revised edition, Anderson updates and elaborates on the core question: What makes people live and die for nations, as well as hate and kill in their names?

Anderson examines the creation and global spread of the "imagined communities" of nationality, and explores the processes that created these communities: the territorialization of religious faiths, the decline of antique kingship, the interaction between capitalism and print, the development of secular languages-of-state, and changing conceptions of time and space. He shows how an originary nationalism born in the Americas was adopted by popular movements in Europe, by imperialist powers, and by the anti-imperialist resistances in Asia and Africa.

In a new afterword, Anderson examines the extraordinary influence of imagined communities. He also explores the book's international publication and reception, from its first publication toward the end of the Cold War era to the present day.

©1983 Benedict Anderson (P)2012 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Sparkling, readable, densely packed." ( Guardian)

A classic.

This book should be required reading for any serious student of political history and the history of ideas.

Excellent. High fallutin vocabulary which was totally wonderful.

Need us to say this is an epic wonderful book which introduced, to me, an educated but in this arena a lay person concepts that I have not considered. Very enjoyable.

Very timely piece

Feels like it describes today’s world though it was written years ago. Hopefully it lays out a warning for those steering the boat now.

Great book, robotic narration

The book lived up to its reputation but the narration didn't do it justice. Will refer to the hard copy in future but this was a good introduction.

Like a statistics book with no charts…

There are some fantastic passages in several languages throughout this book. At least, I think so.

They are read in their mother tongue and not translated to English for the English version of this audiobook. There’s no way to compare what is being said to anything that provides sense to the conversation. Now, I’m smart enough to understand the premise of what the author is saying through 98% of this book, but that seems like an obnoxious oversight in a book like this. It’s like a statistics book with no accompanying charts and graphs.

The book itself is incredible, the narrator does a great job, and the updated version provides greater insight from the author. Three stars for the half a dozen or so lengthy passages that were not in English.