Table of Contents
Introduction Peter Furtado 10
The histories of nations and the history of the world
Egypt Hussein Bassir 18
Pharaohs, kings and presidents
India Mihir Bose 26
The civilization with no home-grown history
Iran Homa Katouzian 38
A long history and short-term society
Greece Antonis Liakos 48
A land caught between ancient glories and the modern world
China Zhitian Luo 58
History writing: linking the past and the future
Ireland Ciaran Brady 70
In the shadow of the fond abuser
Spain Enric Ucelay-Da Cal 82
Beyond the Black Legend
France Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie 96
The history of the hexagon
Russia Dina Khapaeva 108
Fractures in the fabric of culture
The Czech Republic Pavel Seifter 120
National history and the search for identity
Poland Iwona Sakowicz 132
Tragedy and heroism in the face of powerful neighbours
Hungary László Kontler 142
The thousand-year realm
Turkey Murat Siviloglu 154
The land with a lost empire
Brazil Luiz Marques 162
The legacy of slavery and environmental suicide
Mexico Elizabeth Baquedano 170
The land of the eagle, the cactus and the snake
The Netherlands Willem Frijhoff 178
Facing the challenges of water
Sweden Peter Aronsson 188
From Viking community to welfare state
Great Britain Jeremy Black 198
The confected nation state
The United States Peter Onuf 210
The land that chose to be without history
Australia Stuart Macintyre 222
A European nation in an ancient land
Ghana Wilhelmina Donkoh 232
From colony to continental leader
Finland Pirjo Markkola 240
Carving an identity from struggle
Argentina Federico Lorenz 248
Between two centenaries
Canada Margaret Conrad 256
The loose-jointed polity
Italy Giovanni Levi 264
Catholicism, power, democracy and the failure of the past
Japan Ryuichi Narita 272
From isolation to transgression
Germany Stefan Berger 282
The many mutations of a belated nation
Israel Colin Shindler 294
The Zionist experiment
Further Reading 304
Contributor Biographies 307
Editor's Acknowledgments 310
Sources of Illustrations 311
Index 312
