The Invention of Tradition is a classic in Marxist-Critical scholarship, though it does contain some of its pernicious tendencies.
First, the positives. The opening two chapters are an ingenious unraveling of the stereotypes associated with Scotland and Wales. Historically, the Highlands of Scotland are shown to be derivative of Irish civilization. The bagpipes and kilt are proven to be no more than commercial artifacts of the 18th century.
But then the book suffers a bit in its arguments. The ornately done coronation of the English monarchy is shown to be more elegant than its predecessors—thanks to technology and resources—but it’s a stretch to call this invented. While the bagpipes were foisted on unsuspecting Scotsmen as their national instrument instead of the historical harp, monarchical traditions that date back to the Middle Ages but are now on TV for mass consumption isn’t invented tradition in the same sense.
As you can see, the book centers almost exclusively on Britain which is where I see the Marxist liability. It seems like the authors want to use the fact that many “hoary old” traditions date only to the nineteenth century to undermine every element of British culture. Nationalities are hokum, the monarchy is silly at best and public schools (American private schools) are the result of the imperial past.
In all, it seems like the collected authors are dissatisfied with the props the capitalist/liberal state relies on for stability. It’s not that the criticism is all off-based, it’s that there’s a lot of good in the liberal/capitalist order that I, for one, would be loathe to lose sight of.
So while this is some of the finest scholarship of modern Marxist historians, I can’t help but feel that its theme has an underlying pernicious effect. But, by all means, read it for yourself and see whether you agree that its authors are pushing for more than the mere recognition that democratic states also have myths/stories that bend or distort history.
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Brian
An excellent Book of the highest academic standard and a must for all serious socio-political historians
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 12, 2013alison elliott
Superb academic text.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 10, 2020
Chantrait Laetitia
Une lecture ludique et pertinente
Reviewed in France on June 4, 2017