Sociologists and other scholars from Europe and Canada offer theoretical explorations and original case studies to cast light on the rising influence of political religion around the world during the first years of the 21st century. Their topics include hierarchy and covenant in the formation of nations, American civil religion as state mythology, the difference between nationalism and civil religion, Japanese nationalism and state Shinto, religious continuity and change in a Canadian context, civil religion in the Danish parliament, varieties of religious locations in a globalizing world, nationalism as civil religion and rituals of belonging before and after the global turn, and the Fourth of July in Denmark Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)