Nationalism Is a Form of Love, Not Hate
In 1425, a 13-year-old French peasant girl experienced a vision of Saint Michael the Archangel in her father’s garden. It began a journey that would make her a world-famous martyr and transcendent national hero whom Mark Twain deemed “the most noble life that was ever born into this world save only One.”
Joan of Arc had visions that told her to free France from the English, and this was what she set out to do, in one of the least likely stories of martial valor the world has ever known. A slender teenage girl defied every norm of class and gender to convince the authorities that she was born to liberate her country and should be allowed to lead troops into battle. When she did, she won a stunning victory against the English besieging the city of Orléans.
Critics of nationalism contend that it is a relatively recent phenomenon, a contrivance of modern rulers to control and manipulate their populations, and is therefore inherently illegitimate. The Maid of Orléans tells us otherwise.
The Brexit vote and Donald Trump’s 2016 victory, as well as the rise of nationalist governments
