This book was the first to focus in on what the authors call the invented traditions, which they define as "both 'traditions' actually invented, constructed and formally instituted and those emerging in a less easily traceable manner within a brief and dateable period - matter of a few years perhaps - and establishing themselves with great rapidity."[p.1]

The book is a collection of essays that explore in depth Euro-centric examples of invented tradition (which two chapters being somewhat of exceptions to this but still being focused on European presence).

The chapters discuss:
1) intro
2) Scotland
3) Wales
4) Britain
5) Victorian India
6) Colonial Africa
7) Europe in general

Overall the book was an incredibly boring read and I doubt I'll ever reread it except for bits and pieces if needed. I'm glad I did read it though because it provided more context into some of the other books I recently finished, like "Invented Traditions in North and South Korea" and "The Invention of Sacred Tradition".

A fundamental work for the history of traditions, but I was not fond of the writing style.

i read this for a class and its good scholarship for sure, but i really reallyyy dragged my feet trying to care about brits or scots or the welsh and whatnot. sorry

This book gives an overview of the creation of tradition. Coming from a critical viewpoint, tradition is evaluated not as a historic phenomenon, but as social constructions made to serve an objective. This looks at multiple different traditions including Welsh, Scottish, British monarchy, colonial India, colonial Africa and modern Europe to argue that tradition is not an old ancient phenomena but modern, developing in the last 200 years.

I think that the last three chapters on India, colonial Africa and the last chapter on European traditions were clearly the best chapters. A lot of details in Scottish and Welsh traditions that would be forgettable. I think this book is good at highlighting the more forgotten part of racism including racist trade unions of South Africa. African tradition created in colonial times is an interesting history.

The best chapter was the one written by Eric Hobsbawm at the end. His argument that the different contradictory forces of monarchism and socialism led to the development of traditions. The forces of the industrial revolution led to the development of traditions across Europe including working classes.

Son zamanlarda rastladigim en kötü çeviri diyebilirim.

This is an interesting exploration of how some of those things often taken for granted as ancient traditions came to be. It opens with a (presumably intentionally) provocative essay by Trevor-Roper on the origins of Scottish highland dress, suggesting that it was in fact invented by an Englishman, and bears little relation to the clothes worn historically. The subsequent essays on the use of tradition in the British royal family, and in colonial India and Africa are much more interesting, and a useful addition to the Benedict Anderson's Imagined Communities on nationalism in both Europe and its colonies.

I thoroughly enjoyed the essays in this edition. Many of them will provide a great stepping stone in furthering my own thesis. They were clear and concise and I rarely found myself questioning if their theories were just hot air like so many other academic works I've read. Quite refreshing and a definite must read for those looking to understand the topic.

Aínda que fanse moi interesantes tanto a introdución (esta especialmente) e o capítulo de Hobsbawm como aquel adicado ás tradicións escocesas, non deixa de ser un libro moi específico e orientado ao mundo anglosaxón, con poucas alusións a outros contextos da época.

50 years ago, 3000 years. What's the difference?

Many interesting ideas and observations, but not particularly entertaining to read. Some of the contributions are very good, but many are long winded and have parts that are poorly parsed. Additionally, assumes a lot of knowledge, but that part I’m okay with.

This unequal collection of essays is an intelligent, insightful and convincing explanation of many parts of modern life that are often taken for granted. It positions traditions in the context of the societies that developed, invented or used them. The main problem -and it's a big one- is that not all essays are easy for a wide readership, as they assume quite a lot of background knowledge on a variety of subjects. Sometimes they refer to something as a example without the briefest of descriptions. Pity.

This is the best book I have read so far in 2021.
It provides a completely different way to access European and world history.
It is also helpful for thinking about Maori- Pakeha relations in Aoteroa.

The title of the book says it all - and if the realisation that almost all tradition is bogus doesn't in anyway intrigue you then you to read this book more then anyone else. I live in a country that exists and thrives on the idea that we are surrounded by a vast number of living 'theatres' of tradition, the monarchy, church, the law, parliament, etc. So much of all of that theatre of tradition barely goes back to Victorian times, most of our monarchical traditions barely go back further then the 1920s. Even the name of dynasty Windsor is utterly bogus and is of WWI vintage. Most of the nation's cherished traditions were conceived by upper class men (although women played there part too) as ways of subverting the radicalism of the classes without any money, property or power away from attempting to take it from those who had. The 'creation' of royal pageantry was, like civil war memorials in the USA and around the same time, was a political move, to keep the workin classes on side (or in the USA to stop poor whites uniting with poor blacks, the only kind there was, against rich whites, a tiny minority).

Traditions have always been false and always created for dishonest reasons. This is masterful an enlightening work that looks at the subject in a wide variety and forms. Don't be put off there are chapters on royalty but they are small part of much wider examination of themes and subjects.