The Celts

"A history of Celtic thought and identity over the last three centuries. This book will be the first synoptic historical study of Celtic ideas in the modern era. The Celts are perennially popular in both academic and popular culture, having been the subject of several recent books--scholarly and otherwise--as well as a major exhibition, 'The Celts: Art and Identity', at the British Museum and National Museum of Scotland in 2015-16. However, attention remains overwhelmingly focused on the ancient peoples labelled 'Celts', with little interrogation of how and why they became known as such during the modern period. In addressing these questions this study will be the first to account for the trajectory of ideas of the Celts--or 'Celticism'--and how they became fundamental pillars of national identities in western Europe, especially in Britain, Ireland, and France. A transnational approach covering the period from roughly 1700 to the present day will allow the proposed volume to chart the transformation of perceptions of the Celts from those of a sought-after European ancestor to those of a marginalised people living on the 'fringes' of western Europe. In doing so it will illustrate the wider intellectual, cultural, and political ramifications of this protracted ideological shift in different national contexts. As nationalism resurfaces across Europe, this timely study will reveal the intellectual history of a prominent cultural identity and show the historical contingency of Celtic-based nations, national identities, and nationalisms"--