A History of the Arab Peoples

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 new and updated edition, Malise Ruthven continues the history to include such recent events as the crisis in Iraq, the aftermath of September 11th and the Arab Spring of 2011.

'It is difficult to overestimate the signal importance of this book for this time. Here at last is a genuinely readable, genuinely responsive history of the Arabs.' Edward Said