- Paperback: 256 pages
- Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks; new ed of 6th revised ed edition (Feb 18 2003)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0192803107
- ISBN-13: 978-0192803108
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.7 x 1.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 204 g
- Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #732,148 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
Review
`Review from previous edition clear, fascinating and valuable' The Guardian
`stimulating ... The continuous regard paid to the development of trade and economy deserves partucular praise.' History
`Professor Lewis has admirably achieved his object, notably bringing out broad economic trends' International Affairs
`He writes concisely and clearly, ... a useful account of the challenges and crises both faced and precipitated by the Arabs in their long history.' Veronica Sen, Canberra Times
`... enormously influential history ... after reading 'Gibbon on Muhammad', it is tempting to speculate that Lewis's long-standing interest in the eighteenth-century historian may have influenced his own ambition to scan grand horizons, his taste for irony and his unmistakably elegant literary style.' Robert Irwin, Middle Eastern Studies
`stimulating ... The continuous regard paid to the development of trade and economy deserves partucular praise.' History
`Professor Lewis has admirably achieved his object, notably bringing out broad economic trends' International Affairs
`He writes concisely and clearly, ... a useful account of the challenges and crises both faced and precipitated by the Arabs in their long history.' Veronica Sen, Canberra Times
`... enormously influential history ... after reading 'Gibbon on Muhammad', it is tempting to speculate that Lewis's long-standing interest in the eighteenth-century historian may have influenced his own ambition to scan grand horizons, his taste for irony and his unmistakably elegant literary style.' Robert Irwin, Middle Eastern Studies
Product Description
`Whoever lives in our country, speaks our language, is brought up in our culture and takes pride in our glory is one of us.' Thus ran a declaration of modern leaders of Arab states. But what exactly is an Arab, and what has been their place in the course of human history? In this well-established classic, Professor Lewis examines the key issues of Arab development - their identity, the national revival which cemented the creation of the Islamic state, and the social and economic pressuresthat destroyed the Arab kingdom and created the Islamic empire. He analyses the forces which contributed to that empire's eventual decline, and the effects of growing Western influence. Today, with the Arab world facing profound social and political challenges, it constitutes an essential introduction to the Arabs and their history.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
THE Arabian peninsula forms a vast rectangle of some one and a quarter miles area. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
THE Arabian peninsula forms a vast rectangle of some one and a quarter miles area. Read the first page
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Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 4 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
Not worth reading,
By philip monroe (Scotland) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Arabs in History (Paperback)
I had great expectations of this book but the more I read the worse it got. For a person who is supposed to be an 'Orientalist' he sure does hate his subject. Under cover of being a scholar Lewis promotes his neoconservative ideology as serious learning. This ideology is the guiding force behind the troubles in the Middle East today. Powerful people listen to Lewis and follow his advise on how to deal with the Muslim world. Unfortunately this advice comes from a person who has made it a lifelong mission to destroy and defame the very subject he claims to be an expert of.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
3.5 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews) 21 of 21 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Just what you would expect,
By J. P. Mas - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Arabs in History (Paperback)
This book covers the history of the Arabic world since pre Mohammed times to date. Of course, given the length of the book, you cannot expect a very detailed treatment nor an in depth analysis (the same author seems to offer them in other works). But as a concise and first-approach History is very useful. If you just need to get the facts, a road map and a sense of what has been the History of the Middle East, this is a very useful book. It is short, fast to read and opens up your appetite for more. It does not answer questions but it does something more important: it makes you ask lots of questions.
33 of 36 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Decent intro to this part of the world,
By Newton Ooi - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Arabs in History (Paperback)
Bernard Lewis is probably one of the West's most recognizable and respected experts on the Middle East. Fluent in Arabic and having lived in various countries of the Middle East, he has written a plethora of books on this region for the western reader. THis is one of his more recent works, and provides a quick and digestable history of the Arab people; i.e. the people living in and around the Arabian peninsulaThe book starts by examining the region before Islam. The pagan culture is examined, along with the local geography, climate, and economy. Next, the book shows how Islam came about thru Mohammed and his teachings, and how Islam came to be the predominant religion and social force in the region. The book then goes into the history of the Sunni-Shiite split, the growth of Islamic empires such as the Umayyads, Turks, etc. The book ends with the topic of Western influence in the region, and how this is affected by the Israel question and oil. Overall, the book is fairly easy to read and serves as a good introduction to the region. It is suitable for students in college, high school, or adults, and can be picked up by anyone without prior knowledge of the region. 5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Non-Fiction Classic,
By Chris Luallen - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Arabs in History (Paperback)
Bernard Lewis is one of the world's foremost scholars on Islamic history and the Middle East. He has written a multitude of books, some dealing with more specific aspects of the Muslim world and it's relations with the West. But here history is written in broad strokes, as Lewis covers Arabic history from pre-Islamic Arabia to the present day. If you are not familiar with the subject matter then this book will be an outstanding primer. But even those already knowledgable will appreciate Lewis' articulate and insightful analysis. Commerce, warfare, religion and the arts are all discussed, with particular attention paid to the grand achievements of the Ummayyad and Abbasid Calipahtes during Islam's "Golden Era".The reviewer from Scotland that claims Lewis is a neo-con with a bias against his subject clearly has not read the book and has no idea what he is talking about. Lewis is a serious scholar who comes across as highly objective, discussing both the glories and failures in Arab history. He also is one of the few academics able to write in a pleasurable and easy to read style while still maintaining his scholarly credibility This book is a classic of non-fiction and I recommend it to everyone with an interest in history. |
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