A History of the Arab Peoples
by Albert Hourani
This history of the countries where Arabic is the main language of speech and culture, stretching from Morocco to Iraq, covers the period from the 7th to the 10th century, when the new religion of Islam carried the Arabic language with it and created an Arabic Muslim world. The story is carried up to the 1980s and the author shows how Arab history is intertwined with some of the great processes of world history. The author has also written “Europe and the Middle East” and “The Emergence of the Modern Middle East”.
Review
‘A masterly summation of the Arab peoples… It is difficult to overestimate the signal importance of this book for this time. Here at last is a genuinely readable, genuinely responsive history of the Arabs.’ Edward Said ‘If anyone wants to understand the tangled web of likes and dislikes of each other among the Arab peoples or the pull of fundamentalism, here is the place to find it.’ David Holloway, Sunday Telegraph ‘A splendid achievement… Written with just the right mix of empathy and sensitivity, and a feel for the irony of human history. This is history in the grand style.’ New York Times –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Book Description
‘Here at last is a genuinely readable, genuinely responsive history of the Arabs.’ Edward Said