John Alexander Armstrong Jr. (4 May 1922 – 2010) was

Professor Emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

of political science at the

University of Wisconsin-Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

. Born in St. Augustine, Florida on 4 May 1922, he entered

the University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the be ...

at age 20 where he received both bachelor's and master's degrees. However, the date of his graduation was delayed by his enlistment in the U.S. Army in Belgium during World War II, from 1944 to 1945. Such experience appears to have certain impacts upon the direction of his academic research on nationalism in Europe afterwards. He entered

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

for further study in 1950 and received a Ph.D. three years later. His earlier works focus on nationalism and ideologies in Europe, especially

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

during the 1950s and 1960s. The most influential work of his is the path-breaking ''Nations before Nationalism'' (1982) which firstly systematically expressed the ''

longue durée The ''longue durée'' (; en, the long term) is the French Annales School approach to the study of history. It gives priority to long-term historical structures over what François Simiand called ''histoire événementielle'' ("evental history", ...

'' of ethnic identity and has inspired theorists of

ethnosymbolism Ethnosymbolism is a school of thought in the study of nationalism that stresses the importance of symbols, myths, values and traditions in the formation and persistence of the modern nation state. As a critique of modernist theories of nation ...

including

Anthony D. Smith Anthony David Stephen Smith (23 September 1939 – 19 July 2016) was a British historical sociologist who, at the time of his death, was Professor Emeritus of Nationalism and Ethnicity at the London School of Economics. He is considered one of ...

Selected publications

*(1962) ''Ideology, politics, and government in the Soviet Union: an introduction'',

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

system no.: 011535915; 2nd ed. (1967)

system no.: 010265522; 4th ed. (1986), *''Ukrainian Nationalism 1939-1945'',

system no.: 011535954; 2nd ed., ; 3rd ed. (1990), *(1982) ''Nations before Nationalism'',

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Armstrong, John Alexander 1922 births 2010 deaths Scholars of nationalism American political scientists United States Army personnel of World War II University of Chicago alumni