Eric Hobsbawm is considered one of the most important historians of the 20th century. His astute analysis of the history of nations and nationalism is a classic in historical science and has lost none of its relevance and significance to this day. It was the modern nationalism that emerged around 1780 that gave our contemporary world its political face. Current processes such as European integration and globalization cannot be explained without reference to the national standards and categories that have been shaped over the last 200 years. Hobsbawm dares to evaluate the consequential concept of the nation and the corresponding movements, making his work a must-read for anyone engaging with the topic.