A History of the Arab Peoples

By: Albert Hourani

Narrated by: Nadia May

Length: 21 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

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.

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.

Daunting quantity of information!

You will definitely get your money's worth with this one! There is a tremendous amount of information here - a complete history of a people and a world religion.

One reason this is a good buy it that it merits more than one listen. After getting through the book once, one cannot help but gain the ability to absorb more detail on a second read.

Some of the highlights: (1) The description of the life of Muhammad, (2) The explanation of the divergence of Sunni and Shiite branches of Islam, (3) The discussion of the Sufi branch of Islam (4) The rise and fall of the influence of the Islamic world over history, (5) The Ottoman empire, and (6) How the current nations of the Middle East came to be.

Although much longer, this book was light years better than "Islam: A Short Introduction".

The only downside to the book was trying to juggle all of the Middle Eastern names, which can be difficult. Although not a "downside" in the traditional sense, I did feel that the author may have shown some bias in describing some of the Arab/Israeli conflicts of the past century.

All in all - very highly recommended. Definitely something worthy of multiple listens.

very complex

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

... for someone that wants to learn, this is too detailed, using too many names and dates and jumping back and forth. As such, it is difficult to follow. I am sure that it is a great book if you already poses much historic background in this area and time. I had to give up :(

Would you be willing to try another book from Albert Hourani? Why or why not?

Maybe I would research the content more.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Nadia May?

yes

Hourani's detailed history of "Arab" people

Amazing detail over millennia and a half of ever changing parts of the world. Focused on the demographic, economic and political modern evolution of the people, but didn't discuss enough about their vast contributions to the world. Reflects the West's major imposition on last major peoples of the Eastern hemisphere, its division and consequences still experienced today. I'd love to read an updated version capturing the 80's through the present. A more academic than storytelling narrative. Very objective.

Excellent history lesson

Essential listening for anyone curious about the development and history of the Arab People and Islam.