This book is a global microhistorical examination of the Balfour Declaration, the document that set the stage for the creation of the state of Israel. The book demonstrates that the Declaration developed and contributed to a juncture in a global dialogue about the nature and definition of nation at the outset of the 20th century. Tackling the relationship of gender, race, nation and empire, the book posits that the Declaration was a specific tool designed by the manipulation of these ideas. Once established, moreover, it helped, and hindered, established imperial powers, nascent imperial powers, and emerging nationalist movements to advocate for their own vision of national definition.