The 11 essays have been hammered out from earlier versions, some published in the journal Thesis Eleven (no. 77, 2003) and some from an April 2005 workshop in Uppsala. Historians and political scientists in or from the five Nordic countries reflect on features of the advent of modernity that are specific to the Nordic context. Among their topics are the centralized cultural community of Denmark 1740-1940, history and ethics in pre-revolutionary Sweden, the metamorphoses of Norwegian reformism, paradoxes of the Finnish political culture, and Icelandic modernity and the role of nationalism. Annotation ©2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)