Nancy M. Wingfield. Flag Wars and Stone Saints: How the Bohemian Lands Became Czech. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 2007. Pp. xviii, 353. $49.95

This fascinating look at the wealth of cultural manifestations that helped to make the Bohemian lands Czech should be read by more than the usual suspects—that is, historians of the Habsburg Empire and what used to be called Eastern Europe. In particular, those interested in the development of German national identity as well as cultural historians would likely profit from an acquaintance with Nancy M. Wingfield's work. The former should for reasons given by the author: “What many historians have treated as two separate phenomenon—the construction of the Czech and German nations—is analyzed in this study as a larger single phenomenon because Czech and German nationalism worked off one another, responded to one another, and borrowed from one another” (p. 2). This interplay is amply demonstrated in the book, which covers the years 1880 through the communist period (with...