The secular, upsetting modern world, however, turned time into the
main artery through which symbolic and emotional imagery entered social
consciousness. Historical time became inseparable from personal identity,
and the collective narrative gave meaning to the national existence, whose
consolidation required heavy sacrifices. The suffering of the past justified the
price demanded of citizens in the present. The heroism of the receding world
prophesied a brilliant future, perhaps not for the individual but certainly for
the nation. With the help of historians, nationalism became an essentially
optimistic ideology. This, more than anything else, was the secret of its success.引自 Making Nations
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