A History of the Arab Peoples

In 1946 Albert Hourani wrote a book called Syria and Lebanon (Oxford University Press) which was interesting and illuminating about the Middle East, including his forthright attention to the negative consequences of the Arab invasion, the advent of Islam, the oppressive and neglectful rule of the Ottoman Empire, etc. In this more recent book, A History of the Arab Peoples, Hourani has become far less objective than he was before, preferring to find blame in everyone but the Arabs, and specifically blaming the presence of Israel for the unwise, incompetent and destructive policies of successive Arab governments in the region over the last sixty years. Hourani's mind has become bent with the familiar and lazy scapegoating of Israel and the West heard throughout the Arab world.

Getting a handle on an enormous subject (9/9 people found this helpful)

This is one hefty book. The writing style is clear -- it's not turgid or academic, but it's also not sparky or exciting. For me, the first part of the book was quite a slog because it was all new information; once onto a period I knew a bit more about, it was a lot easier to read. It's best to look on this book as a way to get a general feel for the region/subject, rather than to learn about particular countries or episodes in depth.

Of course it's impossible to write history that is 100% free of bias, but this book does well. Hourani avoids rhetoric and doesn't try to frame the whole of Arab history within any kind of grand narrative; attention is paid to the importance and function of all kinds of ideas, ideologies, social groups and so on. A book with a scope as huge as this is never going to please everyone; it's true that he misses out a lot of detail, but well, he had to. Recent terrorist activity doesn't get much attention (though there is a bit in the interesting 2002 afterword by Ruthven), but given the overblown familiarity of the typical western reader with the idea of "Islamic terrorism", I'd say it's useful and in fact important for a book such as this to concentrate on the 99% of Arab life which is not about terrorism.

The book would have been better and probably more reliable if the footnotes and referencing had been more thorough. However, it's a great book for getting a handle on an enormous subject. So give it a try - though in this edition the print's pretty small, so keep your glasses handy! :)

Below par and subtly biased (7/22 people found this helpful)

This book purports to offer the general reader a comprehensive and unbiased overview of the history of the arab peoples. The period encompassed is roughly that from the advent of Islam to the present day. In fact I found the text failed on two accounts. Firstly the author does not explain in any detail which sources he is using or their validity. It would be useful to have some sense of how accurate the chroniclers were. This is most relevant in two areas: early history (7th century) when comparable sources in Europe were scare and those periods when particular empires were dominant i.e. Ottoman - when such records would be influenced and biased by pressures from the Imperial Court. Secondly the author is clearly anti-Jewish in making several statements. For example whilst Israel invaded Egypt in the 1956 Suez Crisis; the Arab states merely "intervened" in Israel in 1947. He also brushes over Nasser's direct provocation of Israel in 1967 (Nasser later revealed that his naval blockade had been designed to lead to war). Numerous further distortions are present in this book. For example there is the almost complete absence of treatment of anti-Jewish violence practiced even before Israel was created. Finally recent terrorist activity is ignored...Hourani seems to want to keep a rose tinted spectacles view of Arab history. He does a discredit to his subject in failing to deal with the bad as well as the good in the region's contribution to civilisation.

"magnum opus" (16/19 people found this helpful)

A fantasic, academic book that nethertheless serves as an excellent introduction to a rather daunting subject to a first time reader of arab history.

Accesibly written, but manages to cover almost all the influences on the development of the arab peoples i could think of, so when i saw there were no reviews i had to say somthing ;)

A History of the Arab Peoples

Albert Hourani

Reader Reviews:

Hourani bent with time (1/3 people found this helpful)

Getting a handle on an enormous subject (9/9 people found this helpful)

Below par and subtly biased (7/22 people found this helpful)

"magnum opus" (16/19 people found this helpful)

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