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Sign up todayArabs
A 3,000-Year History of Peoples, Tribes, and Empires
Narrator
Ralph Lister
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Length
25 hours 33 minutes
Language
English
A riveting, comprehensive history of the Arab peoples and tribes that explores the role of language as a cultural touchstone This kaleidoscopic book covers almost three thousand years of Arab history and shines a light on the footloose Arab peoples and tribes who conquered lands and disseminated their language and culture over vast distances. Tracing this process to the origins of the Arabic language, rather than the advent of Islam, Tim Mackintosh-Smith begins his narrative more than a thousand years before Muhammad and focuses on how Arabic, both spoken and written, has functioned as a vital source of shared cultural identity over the millennia.
Mackintosh-Smith reveals how linguistic developments—from pre-Islamic poetry to the growth of script, Muhammad’s use of writing, and the later problems of printing Arabic—have helped and hindered the progress of Arab history, and investigates how, even in today’s politically fractured post–Arab Spring environment, Arabic itself is still a source of unity and disunity.
Tim Mackintosh-Smith is an eminent Arabist, translator, and traveler whose previous publications include Travels with a Tangerine and Yemen. He has lived in the Arab world for thirty-five years and is a senior fellow of the Library of Arabic Literature.
Ralph Lister is an experienced actor and voice artist who trained at LAMDA. He spent fifteen years in mainstage theatre in London, Madrid, Hong Kong, and Edinburgh before moving to America, where he focuses on film, television, and audiobook narration.
Reviews
"[An] extraordinary new survey.”
“There can hardly be a better guide than Mackintosh-Smith, who has near-mythical status among western observers of the Middle East.”
"[A] superb account of the Arabs over three millennia.”
“Commanding erudition and a swashbuckling style define this history of the Arabs.”
“Although Mackintosh-Smith’s book is perfectly scholarly, it is not a dutiful plod through a succession of slaughtered sultans and viziers…On the contrary, Arabs keeps throwing out brilliant insights, like sparks from a Catherine wheel.”
“This brilliant and fascinating history book will change the way we analyze the happenings in the Arab world.”
“A marvelous journey brimming with adventure and poetry and narrated by a keen, compassionate observer.”
“Strips away centuries of erroneous myth-making…Anyone hoping to understand, let alone write about the Middle East, will need to read and inhale this profound, witty, and scholarly achievement.”
“Quite brilliant…I am full of admiration for this inspiring book, with its quite original and timely view of Arab historical identity.”
“Superb. What really distinguishes this book from others is the sheer number of its insights into Arab history, all of which are tantalizing.”
“Arabs is a refined and pleasing tour through the history of a remarkable people, civilization, and language.”
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