A proper understanding of a nation’s identity over time requires tracing how a modern sense of belonging can derive from the symbolic reservoir of society and how cultural symbols can change their meaning in history. This research agenda becomes significantly more challenging when it involves a national group’s experience across hundreds of years from the early modern period to the present. Such is the task of Smith’s Germany: A Nation and Its Time in its attempt to tell the story of nation and nationalism in Germany from 1500 to 2000.

中文翻译：

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德国，国家和大屠杀，1500–2000年

正确理解一个国家的身份随着时间的流逝，需要追踪现代归属感如何从社会的象征储藏体中衍生出来，以及文化象征如何改变其历史意义。当这个研究议程涉及一个国家集团从现代早期到现在的数百年的经验时，就变得更具挑战性。这就是史密斯的《德国：一个国家及其时代》的任务，试图讲述1500年至2000年德国的民族和民族主义故事。