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 must read for anyone who is not familiar with Arab history!

4 stars only because the book was somewhat dry (history books tend to be that way), but the narration kept it lively for me and just because it was dry doesn’t mean I was completely uninterested. I honestly wanted to read this to gain a more well-rounded idea of the conflict between Israel and Palestine and I was not disappointed. A lot of things make more sense to me now.

A must

The book present a history of the Arabs between roughly the 7th century C.E. and the 1980s. To present in a single book a history of such a large geographical area, and on such a long period of time implies that the level of detail can be at best sketchy. This said, there is some degree of analysis, and the reader gains some insight into the subject. The reader is a native English speaker but is not a native speaker of Arabic so that she does her best to pronouce Arabic names. On the whole, the experience of listening to the audio was informative and a time well spent.

Great Book Great Narrator

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