A History of the Arab Peoples

De: Albert Hourani

Narrado por: Nadia May

Despite the turmoil of Arab nationalism and fundamentalism, Middle Eastern wars, and oil crises, the history of the Arab world has been little known and poorly understood in the West. One reason may be that, for more than half a century, there has been no up-to-date single volume work that chronicles the story of Arab civilization - until now. Albert Hourani, distinguished historian and interpreter, has written a masterwork, a panoramic view encompassing twelve centuries of Arab history and culture. He looks at all sides of this rich and venerable civilization: the beauty of the Alhambra and the great mosques, the importance attached to education, the achievements of Arab science - but also internal conflicts, wide-spread poverty, the role of women, and the contemporary Palestinian question.(P)2000 Blackstone Audiobooks, Inc.

Not particularly linear

I would have retained more with a more linear narrative. This seems more suitable for reading than listening so it can be referenced and reviewed easily.

interesting and informative

Hourani is a great wrier and manages to convey enough information without being too indepth to be dull nor too broad to be pointless.
The narrator, Nadia May, speaks well but has the bad habit of using an "Arab" accent when she quotes historical people. It comes across poorly as these peoples lived across vast areas and times and would have sounded very different from eachother, and May's habit of homogenising them seens disrespectful.

A People's History, not a State's

First off let me say that going into this book I did not have a really good understanding of Arab or Muslim culture. Now that I'm done I feel like I got a really good basis with which to understand these cultures.

This book doesn't explain in-depth the rise and fall of specific governments and nations, but rather details and profiles the peoples that populated them. It dives into the religious and social development in the Muslim countries. At this point I feel like I need to read a lot more books on more specific histories.

My only real critique of this book is that it's hard to keep all of the terminology straight in my head (Thank goodness for Wikipedia). It was really easy to zone out to this audiobook. The way it was written made it hard to pick back up and figure out what had been going on.

Probably the biggest plus of this book is that it doesn't feel like it's written from a western perspective. I would highly recommend this book as a good dive-in immersion experience.

Thorough but not riveting

Albert Hourani was recommended by my Arabic instructor as being reputable in both the Arab and Western Worlds. This exhaustive work is not for the casual student. You must have a keen interest in Arabic history and be willing to listen to a text book style read. I will most likely purchase the printed version to add it to my personal library. I would recommend listening to the works of Bernard Lewis first. They are much easier to digest. For a more biased, but not necessarily untrue perspective, check out the works of Robert Spencer.

Great Book Great Narrator

Nadia May is Amazing! Hourani's book gave me a new perspective on a vital and confusing region.