One might describe this history of racist/nationalist ideas from their inception to the twentieth century as an "encyclopedia" of sorts, but its discussions are more like those in a dictionary, in that the author reviews scores of writers, most of them now obscure, providing often little more than snippets about their beliefs. While the information is thorough, and the author's knowledge of the subject appears exhaustive, I found myself wishing for relief from the perpetual parade of names and for more of a "bird's eye" view of this convoluted corner of the history of ideas. I was at first turned off by Poliakov's professed sympathy for Freudian interpreations, but as it turns out, there is very little of it in the book, and when it does appear it's more comic relief than anything objectionable. Anyone interested in the history of racism should read this book. The summaries by country are especially useful, and a great lesson can be learned about the absurdity of racism by seeing how various "experts" spun out endless and mutually incompatible justifications for prejudice. Despite its rather pedantic tone, Poliakov has done a commendable job overall.

This book gives an excellent analysis of how ideas of racism and nationalism developed over centuries in Europe culminating in the two world wars. It is interesting to see how even the most revered pesonalities of their times, from Shakespeare to Voltaire, helped propagate and perpetuate the ideas of a superior race and how eurocentric intellectuals distorted and discarded more plausible explanation of facts for their own racist theories and misled the masses. The authors style of writing is commendable in the sense that he does not impose any particular views on the reader and presents facts as facts, leaving the reader to make his own judgements, unlike many other authors who have written on this subject. Its also a good reading on social psychology and interesting parallels can be drawn between the social psyche presented in this book and that in Goldings "Lord of the flies".