pt. I. Comparative perspectives. Apologias for the nation-state in Western Europe since 1800 / Stefan Berger, Mark Donovan and Kevin Passmore -- Nationalism and historiography, 1789-1996 : the German example in historical perspective / Georg G. Iggers -- Literature, liberty and life of the nation : British historiography from Macaulay to Trevelyan / Benedikt Stuchtey -- pt. II. The age of bourgeois revolution. History as a principle of legitimation in France (1820-48) / Ceri Crossley -- National unification and narrative unity : the case of Ranke's German History / Patrick Bahners -- Unity and confederation in the Italian Risorgimento : the case of Carlo Cattaneo / Martin Thom -- pt. III. The age of the masses. Taine and the nation-state / Stuart Jones -- 'Prussians in a good sense' : German historians as critics of Prussian conservatism, 1890-1920 / Alastair Thompson -- The search for a 'national' history : Italian historiographical trends following unification / Mauro Moretti -- pt. IV. Liberal democracy and antifascism (1918-45). Marc Bloch as a critic of historiographical nationalism in the interwar years / Peter Schottler -- From antifascist to Volkshistoriker : demos and ethnos in the political thought of Fritz Rorig, 1921-45 / Peter Lambert -- Reclaiming Italy? Antifascist historians and history in Justice and Liberty / Philip Morgan -- pt. V. Fascist historiography and the nation-state. Right-wing historiographical models in France, 1918-45 / Bertram M. Gordon -- German historiography under National Socialism : dreams of a powerful nation-state and German Volkstum come true / Hans Schleier -- Gioacchino Volpe and fascist historiography in Italy / Martin Clark -- pt. VI. The Cold War years. Rebuilding France : Gaullist historiography, the rise-fall myth and French identity (1945-58) / Hugo Frey -- Dividing the past, defining the present : historians and national identity in the two Germanies / Mary Fulbrook -- A neglected question : Historians and the Italian national state (1945-95) / Roberto Vivarelli -- pt. VII. Contemporary trends. Historians and the nation in contemporary France / Julian Jackson -- Historians and the search for national identity in the reunified Germany / Stefan Berger -- Historians and the 'First Republic' / Carl Levy -- pt. VIII. Conclusion. Historians and the nation-state : some conclusions / Kevin Passmore, Stefan Berger and Mark Donovan.