Two of the most popular, innovative and controversial fields of historical study are cultural history and the history of nationalism. This volume brings these two areas together by addressing a central concern of recent research on the cultural history of Europe: the transition from the cosmopolitan culture of the Enlightenment to the self-consciously national cultures of the nineteenth century.

• 'Introduction', Tim Blanning & Hagen Schulze
• 'Art and its Publics, c. 1800', James Sheehan
• 'The Idea of National Opera around 1800', Silke Leopold
• 'The Invention of German Music, c. 1800', John Deathridge
• 'Playing with the Nation: Napoleon and the Culture of Nationalism', Peter Alter
• 'Cosmopolitanism, Patriotism, Nationalism', Siegfried Weichlein
• 'Art in a Cool Climate: The Cultural Policy of the British State in European Context, c. 1780- c. 1850', Peter Mandler
• 'The Invention of National Languages', Otto Dann
• 'The Debates about Universal History and National History around 1800: A Problem-oriented Historical Attempt', Hans-Erich Bödeker
• 'Views of the Past in Irish Vernacular Literature, 1650-1850', Vincent Morley

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"Vincent Morley in turn offers an original and intriguing investigation of the influence of an older and alternative tradition of Irish history for later Irish nationalist historiography, as he redirects attention away from the Anglophone world of print and towards the overlooked oral world of the Irish vernacular 'demotic public sphere' ..."

Brian Vick, English Historical Review, February 2008.

"The volume ends with the most impressive essay of all, Vincent Morley's paper on 'Views of the Past in Irish Vernacular Literature, 1650-1850', which emphasizes continuity and gradual development over the period, rather than revolutionary disruption."

Simon Dixon, Journal of European Studies, September 2009.