A history of the Arab peoples / Albert Hourani.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 500-529) and indexes.

The making of a world (seventh-tenth century). A new power in an old world ; The formation of an empire ; The formation of a society ; The articulation of Islam -- Arab Muslim societies (eleventh-fifteenth century). The Arab Muslim world ; The countryside ; The life of cities ; Cities and their rulers ; Ways of Islam ; The culture of the 'ulama ; Divergent paths of thought ; The culture of courts and people -- The Ottoman age (sixteenth-eighteenth century). The Ottoman empire ; Ottoman societies ; The changing balance of power in the eighteenth century -- The age of European empires (1800-1939). European power and reforming governments (1800-1860) ; European empires and dominant élites (1860-1914) ; The culture of imperialism and reform ; The climax of European power (1914-1939) ; Changing ways of life and thought (1914-1939) -- The age of nation-states (since 1939). The end of the empires (1939-1962) ; Changing societies (1940s and 1950s) ; National culture (1940s and 1950s) ; The climax of Arabism (1950s and 1960s) ; Arab unity and disunity (since 1967) ; A disturbance of spirits (since 1967) -- Maps -- Genealogies and dynasties.

No region in the world today is more important than the Middle East: no people more misunderstood than the Arabs. In this definitive masterwork, distinguished Oxford historian Albert Hourani offers the most lucid, enlightening history ever written on the subject. From the rise of Island to the Palestinian issue, from the Prophet Mohammed to Mu'ammar al-Qadhafi. A History of the Arab Peoples chronicles the rich spiritual, political, and cultural institutions of this civilization through thirteen centuries of war, peace, literature, and religion. Lauded by authorities, encyclopedic and panoramic in its scope, here is a remarkable window on today's conflictsand on the future of a glorious and troubled land.