Preface to the Second Edition

By a happy paradox, the more the peoples of the world draw together in amity, the less do they desire assimilation in a common culture. Standardization is, in fact, the antithesis of culture, which consists in those subtle differences, those nuances, which give colour and character to every aspect of the national life. It is right and desirable that in the arts and sciences, in products and manufactures, the nations should borrow freely from one another and thus share in the general progress of the human race; but it is no less right and desirable that each should cherish its distinctive traditions and customs, as evidence not of antiquarian zeal, but of a healthy national sentiment.