Join Amazon Prime and get unlimited Free One-Day Delivery. Already a member? Sign in.

 

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
More Buying Choices
46 used & new from £0.99
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
A History of the Arab Peoples
 
 
Share your own customer images
Publisher: learn how customers can search inside this book.

A History of the Arab Peoples (Paperback)

by Albert Hourani (Author), Malise Ruthven (Introduction)
3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
RRP: £9.99
Price: £5.99 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
You Save: £4.00 (40%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk. Gift-wrap available.

Want guaranteed delivery by Friday, July 17? Choose Express delivery at checkout. See Details
28 new from £1.25 18 used from £0.99

Frequently Bought Together

A History of the Arab Peoples + A History of the Middle East + The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East
Price For All Three: £24.17

Show availability and shipping details

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

A History of the Middle East

A History of the Middle East

by Peter Mansfield
3.5 out of 5 stars (4)  £9.09
The Middle East: 2000 Years Of History From The Birth Of Christia: 2000 Years of History from the Rise of Christianity to the Present Day

The Middle East: 2000 Years Of History From The Birth Of Christia: 2000 Years of History from the Rise of Christianity to the Present Day

by Bernard Lewis
4.2 out of 5 stars (4)  £6.99
The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East

The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East

by Robert Fisk
4.3 out of 5 stars (58)  £9.09
Orientalism: Western Conceptions of the Orient (Penguin Modern Classics)

Orientalism: Western Conceptions of the Orient (Penguin Modern Classics)

by Edward W. Said
3.8 out of 5 stars (18)  £7.69
Islam: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)

Islam: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)

by Malise Ruthven
3.6 out of 5 stars (10)  £5.99
› Explore similar items

Product details

  • Paperback: 592 pages
  • Publisher: Faber and Faber; New edition edition (1 Sep 2005)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0571226647
  • ISBN-13: 978-0571226641
  • Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 12.6 x 3.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 21,423 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #27 in  Books > History > Countries & Regions > Asia > Middle East > Arabian Peninsula

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Customers Viewing This Page May Be Interested in These Sponsored Links

  (What is this?)
Find a Muslim to Marry
   ClickMuslim.com    Search for a Muslim to Marry Free to Join. Muslim Matrimonials. 
Find History
   Ask.com    History Information. History on Ask! 
  
 

Product Description

Review
"'Here at last is a genuinely readable, genuinely responsive history of the Arabs.' Edward Said 'Splendid... history in the grand style.' New York Times"

Product Description
In a work of profound and lasting importance, Albert Hourani tells the definitive history of the Arab peoples from the seventh century, when the new religion of Islam began to spread from the Arabian Peninsula westwards, to the present day. "A History of the Arab Peoples" is a masterly distillation of a lifetime of scholarship and a unique insight into a perpetually troubled region. For this edition, Malise Ruthven continues the history to include such recent events as the crisis in Iraq, the civil war in Algeria and the aftermath of September 11th.

See all Product Description

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
Check the boxes next to the tags you consider relevant or enter your own tags in the field below
(1)
(1)
(1)
See all 4 tags...

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

A History of the Arab Peoples
91% buy the item featured on this page:
A History of the Arab Peoples 3.9 out of 5 stars (9)
£5.99
A History of the Middle East
3% buy
A History of the Middle East 3.5 out of 5 stars (4)
£9.09
The Middle East: 2000 Years Of History From The Birth Of Christia: 2000 Years of History from the Rise of Christianity to the Present Day
3% buy
The Middle East: 2000 Years Of History From The Birth Of Christia: 2000 Years of History from the Rise of Christianity to the Present Day 4.2 out of 5 stars (4)
£6.99
A Concise History of the Middle East
1% buy
A Concise History of the Middle East 4.7 out of 5 stars (6)
£26.59
Explore similar items
 

Customer Reviews

9 Reviews
5 star:
 (3)
4 star:
 (4)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.9 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent introduction to Arab history, 8 Dec 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: A History of the Arab Peoples (Hardcover)
Without doubt this is the best introductory book I have read on the subject of Arab history. Hourani's book is highly informative yet also very readable. The book covers Arab history over a timeline starting from pre-Islamic times right up to recent events in the 1980's and serves as a superb introduction for anyone with an interest in this area of the world. The book studies many aspects of life in detail. For those who are using this study as starting point, will find that Hourani gives them much to think about and provides many refernces for further research. The book also contains useful maps, timelines and family trees. The topic area is vast but Hourani has made skilful inrodes into it leaving the reader feeling informed about the Arab people both past and present.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Thoughtful and readable, 20 Jan 2004
By A Customer
This review is from: A History of the Arab Peoples (Paperback)
In this excellent book, Albert Hourani traces the history of the Arab people from the appearance of Islam, through the rise and fall of the caliphates and the Ottoman empire, to the colonial era of the Europeans and the creation of the nation states that now stretch from West Africa to the Gulf. He gives much insight into the development of culture, law, science and the many strands of religious thought in the region, and into the roots of some of the troubles of the present day. On finishing this book I felt better informed, and would recommend it to anyone interested in the Arab world.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Getting a handle on an enormous subject, 14 Mar 2007
By G. Wearing (kent, england) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
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! :)
Comment Comment (1) | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Informative but insipid
A very informative and educating work indeed, tracing the ideological, political, social and military history of the Arabs. Read more
Published 20 days ago by Bilal Rana

1.0 out of 5 stars A vague history
This is not a history of the Arab peoples - it does not describe why the Moslems expanded, how, when or where. What battles were fought, why or when? Read more
Published 1 month ago by Sk Picot

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book
This book should be (and is in some Universities) mandatory for the study of the Middle East in general and Arab peoples specifically. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Gogol

3.0 out of 5 stars Below par and subtly biased
This book purports to offer the general reader a comprehensive and unbiased overview of the history of the arab peoples. Read more
Published on 8 Sep 2006 by Simon Jaffe

4.0 out of 5 stars "magnum opus"
A fantasic, academic book that nethertheless serves as an excellent introduction to a rather daunting subject to a first time reader of arab history. Read more
Published on 7 April 2006 by Burby

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb, unconventional history
This is a really good grounding in the history of the region stretching from Morocco to Turkey, encompassing 1400 ish years of history. Read more
Published on 27 Oct 2001

Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

 Beta (What's this?)
This product's forum (0 discussions)
  Discussion Replies Latest Post
  No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
  [Cancel]

   

Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category

Feedback

A Companion to the History of...

A Companion to...

A Companion to the History of the Middle East offers a fresh account... Read more
£95.00

›Find similar items

 

More From Albert Habib Hourani

Arabic Thought in...

Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age...

Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age is the most comprehensive study of... Read more
£25.64

 

Up to 50% off Dental Care

Braun Oral-B Professional Care 6000 Rechargeable Toothbrush - Pack of 2
Put a sparkle in your smile with up to 50% off selected Oral-B and Philips rechargeable toothbrushes.

›Up to 50% off power toothbrushes

  

Treat Someone

Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificates--available in any amount from £5 to £500 With an Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate, you can get them what they want (even if you don't know what that is).

›Learn more about Gift Certificates

  
Ad

Where's My Stuff?

Delivery and Returns

Need Help?

Your Recent History

  (What's this?)
You have no recently viewed items or searches.

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.

Look to the right column to find helpful suggestions for your shopping session.
Continue Shopping: Top Sellers

amazon.co.uk Amazon Home
International Sites:  United States  |  Germany  |  France  |  Japan  |  Canada  |  China
Business Programs: Sell on Amazon  |  Fulfilment by Amazon  |  Join Associates  |  Join Advantage
Customer Service  |  Help  |  View Basket  |  Your Account
About Amazon.co.uk  |  Careers at Amazon
Conditions of Use & Sale |  Privacy Notice  © 1996-2009, Amazon.com, Inc. and its affiliates