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Choosing Slovakia: Slavic Hungary, the Czechoslovak Language and Accidental Nationalism

Choosing Slovakia: Slavic Hungary, the Czechoslovak Language and Accidental Nationalism Reviews / East Central Europe 38 (2011) 155–167 161 Alexander Maxwell. Choosing Slovakia: Slavic Hungary, the Czechoslovak Language and Accidental Nationalism . London: I. B. Tauris, 2009. 288 pp. ISBN: 978-1-8488-5074-3. In his book Choosing Slovakia, American historian Alexander Maxwell ambitiously set out to entirely reframe the birth of Slovak nationalism. Maxwell spent considerable time in research institutions of Hungary, Romania, and Germany, and thus knows the history of the region in depth. Th is knowledge has enabled him to publish several innovative studies on the history of nationalism, including this, his fi rst monograph. Th e main question of Choosing Slovakia is the process by which the peasants of Upper Hungary, lacking any national identity, became modern Slovaks. However, this issue is reframed by Maxwell, who also asks why these peasants did not become something else: pan-Slavs, Magyars, or Czechoslovaks? Th e main arguments here are based on the evolution of the concepts in the Slovak language, supported by the author’s con- vincing linguistic analysis. Maxwell writes that due to the French Revolution and the ideas of the Enlightenment the concept of the Hungarian noble (feudal) nation collapsed and a more modern idea, state patriot- ism, the http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png East Central Europe Brill

Choosing Slovakia: Slavic Hungary, the Czechoslovak Language and Accidental Nationalism

East Central Europe , Volume 38 (1): 4 – Jan 1, 2011

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Publisher
Brill
Copyright
Copyright © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
0094-3037
eISSN
1876-3308
DOI
10.1163/187633011X572790
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Reviews / East Central Europe 38 (2011) 155–167 161 Alexander Maxwell. Choosing Slovakia: Slavic Hungary, the Czechoslovak Language and Accidental Nationalism . London: I. B. Tauris, 2009. 288 pp. ISBN: 978-1-8488-5074-3. In his book Choosing Slovakia, American historian Alexander Maxwell ambitiously set out to entirely reframe the birth of Slovak nationalism. Maxwell spent considerable time in research institutions of Hungary, Romania, and Germany, and thus knows the history of the region in depth. Th is knowledge has enabled him to publish several innovative studies on the history of nationalism, including this, his fi rst monograph. Th e main question of Choosing Slovakia is the process by which the peasants of Upper Hungary, lacking any national identity, became modern Slovaks. However, this issue is reframed by Maxwell, who also asks why these peasants did not become something else: pan-Slavs, Magyars, or Czechoslovaks? Th e main arguments here are based on the evolution of the concepts in the Slovak language, supported by the author’s con- vincing linguistic analysis. Maxwell writes that due to the French Revolution and the ideas of the Enlightenment the concept of the Hungarian noble (feudal) nation collapsed and a more modern idea, state patriot- ism, the

Journal

East Central EuropeBrill

Published: Jan 1, 2011

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