Arabs: A 3,000-Year History of Peoples, Tribes, and Empires

4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars | 311 ratings

Price: 19.87

Last update: 06-08-2024


Top reviews from the United States

historryfann
5.0 out of 5 stars Superb, honest treatment of Arab history without illusions and delusions
Reviewed in the United States on May 21, 2019
Incredibly researched honest look at Arab history that gives Arabic civilization its due without PC efforts to exaggerate the nobility of people who were flawed like us all. Arab nationalists, Islamic extremists and western xenophobes would probably object to some of the content. For example, Islamists won't want to hear about the corruption and political scheming of Arab conquerors in the early centuries of Islam and the pre-Islamic roots of much of Arabic culture. As the book points out, Arab school children are taught that spreading religion was the main goal of conquests that really began as "super raids" in search of booty, in several senses of the word. The book emphasizes how the Arabic language created Arab identity through the centuries and how its calcification by grammarians in the Middle Ages accounts for much of what ails that culture even today, from religious extremism to a fear of modernity.
fixer-upper
5.0 out of 5 stars A captivating book, but make sure what you are looking for first
Reviewed in the United States on July 15, 2020
The book is insanely good, I couldn't stop reading it until I got to the last page. With that said as with most best books it's not perfect. It's not a historical book in its strict sense. You will not get a perfect timeline of the events associated with the arab tribes, although you will find a plethora of historical facts inside. While the book structure does follow the historical time flow on the large scale, still almost every chapter might jump from the currently described events to the deep past and from the to the distant future and back. The author created a narrative that could be best described as a love letter to the arab culture expressed by an erudite in the arab-lore.
So if you are interested in chronology per se, this should not be the first book you buy.
Another thing that attracted and annoyed me at the same time was the author's effort to understand what were the roots of widespread tyranny and corruption in contemporary arab societies. Mr. Macintosh-Smith did it through the dualism of tribal/settled forms of life in the arab culture that he thinks went though all its history. But when he states that the for many arab countries corruption is not the failure of the system, but IS the system I feel like his enchantment played a trick to him since the same can be said about many other parts of all the world, if not most of it. What in author's description is specifically arabic and what could be described as the current state of affairs on the international, global scale?
So the book allegedly on the arab history is as much about arab politics and sociology, and because the author is not as well trained in those as in his direct subject, his ideas might appear highly disputable. But it also means that the book is not as detached and descriptive as one might expect from historical study, but displays author's high level of involvement and participating. And that's exactly why this book is so magical - it's not only and not primarily about historical facts, it's about the arab culture(s) and its/they prospects now. Through his book Mr. Mackintosh-Smith managed not only to transmit the historical timeline of arabs, but also express the inner beauty of their cultures (and primarily arabic language!) and reassert the progressive elements that are buried in them under the debris of permanent fighting among themselves. This is the book of hope, not matter how little of it left.
To sum up, if you are looking for mere workbook on arab history you should start with some other texts. If you are interested in everything arabic, you will definitely like this book. I highly recommend it!
peter stevenson
4.0 out of 5 stars Enertaining as well as factual.
Reviewed in the United States on June 21, 2019
I especially liked the historical coverage previous to Mohammed. I liked the anecdote of the
'Battle of the Camel'.
Cyberknot
5.0 out of 5 stars Unexpected but not disappointing
Reviewed in the United States on January 18, 2020
I certainly empathize with some of the negative comments here — confusing narrative structure, not a "history", and the like. I came to this book knowing absolutely nothing about Arabs, Arabia, Islam, and the Muslim world. I do know a fair bit more about the histories of the empires — Rome, Persia, Byzantine — that have impinged on them, however. Which gave me a place to stand as the author elaborates the essentially linguistic basis of Arabian culture and its emergence in opposition to those other centers of gravity. The author writes beautifully and knowledgeably: he knows where he lives and he lives what he knows. So to those critics who prefer other authors on the topic, all I can say is read him with THAT particular knowledge guiding your understanding. This book, like the author's conception of Arabic, is the product of a profound cultural cross-fertilization.
Carol Winkler
5.0 out of 5 stars Very quick delivery during the busy Christmas season.
Reviewed in the United States on December 16, 2023
Came quickly and not damaged. Thanks.
Douglas D. Patterson
5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent review of the history of Arabs
Reviewed in the United States on July 4, 2019
As a person who has always focused on European history, I approached this book with only sketch knowledge of the subject. I was aware that there was a time during which the Arabs had advanced far beyond the Europeans, only to falter and to stagnate for the next millennium. The author of this book goes by the unlikely name of Tim Mackintosh Smith but apparently has lived in Yemen long enough to be have a very strong command of his subject. After theArab renaissance and enlightenment, Arab disunity set in and according to Tim the main force holding the various people who identify themselves Arabs was the Arabic language which very few of them speak or write fluently. Islam was of course also a factor, but the the author sees it as secondary to their linguistic culture.
B. Lachkar
4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent but not perfect
Reviewed in the United States on December 21, 2020
This is a superb work of erudition and I loved it but had just two small problems with it:
1. The style of the writing, others spoke about it, maybe I prefer something slightly more academic.
2. The total acceptation of the islamic orthodox view of the history of Islam and Muhamad. Not a word about the critical works onthese issues, even to refute them, tradition is taken at face value or only criticized if it had been criticized by traditional muslim commentators. And the reverence toward the Quran was also too much. Someone writing like that about the Bible and it’s history would be slammed as an extreme conservative.
But that’s relatively marginal over all. Great book.

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