Historical analysis seems to define modernity and the nation-state in terms of each other, says King (history, James Madison U.), which means that neither is explained very convincingly. He offers a different approach: if the states that emerged in 19th-century Europe are seen as an effort to transcend ethnic identification--through ideologies of citizenship, the use of vernacular language, and so on--then they can fruitfully be compared to states in other parts of the world and in other eras that have also attempted to transcend ethnic identification in a variety of ways. Ancient Egypt, for example. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)