Michael Amoah, Reconstructing the Nation in Africa: The Politics of Nationalism in Ghana. New York: Palgrave, 2007. ISBN: 1845112598. List Price: $74.95 (Hardcover).

The established theories and debates on nationalism were formed in the twin crucibles of Eighteenth-century Europe and America, and continue to be informed by that heritage. Reconstructing the Nation in Africa challenges some of the key principles that underlie the current debates on nationalism by exploring in depth the experience of multinational states in Africa. Taking Ghana as a case study, Michael Amoah introduces and develops two important new contributions to the theoretical tapestry of nationalism--the "Rationalisation of Nationalism" and "Reconstructing the Nation," concepts that should have wide use and currency in the broader discussion of the national phenomenon. Reconstructing the Nation in Africa argues that the nationhood of Ghana is not rooted in modernity as is generally thought, and attempts to show by analysis of the microbehavior of its population that traditional views on the viability of the multinational state do not necessarily hold true for modern-day Africa.

Joanne L. Duffy, The Politics of Ethnic Nationalism: Afrikaner Unity, the National Party and the Radical Right in Stellenbosch, 1934-1948. London: Routledge, 2006. ISBN: 9780415979863. List Price: £60.00.

The Politics of Ethnic Nationalism is the first significant local study of National Party and Afrikaner politics.

By focusing on Stellenbosch as a university and a town, the book extends our understanding of the complex interaction between the GNP/HNP and various organizations of the radical right. The book illustrates, at a local level and using detailed materials, how identity was constructed through a process of excluding some (English, Jew, Coloured) and including others. In addition, it examines the ways in which Afrikaner nationalists of all shades of political opinion conceptualized their relationships with English-speaking South Africans and the ways that the rhetoric of republicanism and anti-imperialism were employed by nationalists. The study exposes the complex and Byzantine nature of Afrikaner nationalist politics, revealing the multiplicity of identities and ideologies co-existing within Afrikanerdom, the cross-cutting allegiances and overlapping loyalties. It reveals further the extent to which branches of nationalist organizations were fragmented and to which even individuals could embrace contradictory ideologies.

Lowell W. Barrington, ed., After Independence: Making and Protecting the Nation in Postcolonial and Postcommunist States.  Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2006.  ISBN: 9780472098989.  List Price: $75.00 (Cloth).  ISBN: 9780472068982.  List Price: $29.95 (Paper)

 The majority of the existing work on nationalism has centered on its role in the creation of new states. After Independence breaks new ground by examining the changes to nationalism after independence in seven new states. This innovative volume challenges scholars and specialists to rethink conventional views of ethnic and civic nationalism and the division between primordial and constructivist understandings of national identity.

Edna G. Bay and Donald L. Donham, eds., States of Violence: Politics, Youth, and Memory in Contemporary Africa.  Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2006.  ISBN: 9780813925691.  List Price: $49.50 (Cloth)

The essayists whose work is collected here—historians, anthropologists, and political scientists—bring their diverse disciplinary perspectives to bear on various forms of violence that have plagued recent African history. Exploring violence as part of political economy and rejecting stereotypical explanations of African violence as endemic or natural to African cultures, the essays examine a continent where the boundaries on acceptable force are always shifting and the distinction between violence by the state and against the state is not always clear.

Wide-ranging but sharply focused, States of Violence takes in power struggles in Sierra Leone, nationalism in postcolonial Zimbabwe, the Bakassi boys of Nigeria, and offers probing examinations of such pivotal events as the Rwandan genocide and the Alexandra Rebellion, shedding new light on the role of each in the drama being played out in this troubled continent.

James McDougall, History and the Culture of Nationalism in Algeria. Cambridge, UK and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006.  ISBN-13: 9780521843737.  List Price: £48.00

Colonialism denied Algeria its own history; nationalism reinvented it. James McDougall charts the creation of that history through colonialism to independence, exploring the struggle to define Algeria’s past and determine the meaning of its nationhood. Through local histories, he analyses the relationship between history, Islamic culture and nationalism in Algeria. He confronts prevailing notions that nationalism emancipated Algerian history, and that Algeria’s past has somehow determined its present, violence breeding violence, tragedy repeating itself. Instead, he argues, nationalism was a new kind of domination, in which multiple memories and possible futures were effaced. But the histories hidden by nationalism remain below the surface, and can be recovered to create alternative visions for the future. This is an exceptional and engaging book, rich in analysis and documentation. It will be read by colonial historians and social theorists as well as by scholars of the Middle East and North Africa.