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Arabs

A 3,000-Year History of Peoples, Tribes, and Empires

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Arabs

By: Tim Mackintosh-Smith
Narrated by: Ralph Lister
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Summary

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 3,000 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.

©2019 Tim Mackintosh-Smith (P)2019 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Ancient Islam Middle East World Iran Africa Thought-Provoking
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An incredible and insightful history about Arabs through the lens of Arabic language. It does risk getting a bit orientalist and essentialist by the end (last 60 minutes) but a great listen nonetheless.

Highly recommended

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Incredibly well written by someone who is clearly a genius in understanding cultures, civilisations and their place in history. Also very well read by an endearing voice with perfect expression. If you like Hourani or Lawrence or other great works on the history of Arabs this is for you.

Unique and insightful

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I’m giving this 4 stars all round because, whilst Ienjoye it enormously I really don’t know how much of it to take as fact. There is a lot of interesting and well thought-out ideas and the author is honest about which are which.
He seems rather self-consciously learned at times, bringing in literary refernces that he could have done without, but the book has a breadth of vision that is unique, with really informative chapters in the Arab diaspora and deals with the c20 with clarity and wisdom.
The reading is competent but it might have been better to have pronounced the Arabic more carefully.
It’s a change to have a book that goes under the surface of the ‘history’ and I wouldn’t have missed it for anything

An interesting and very worthwhile read

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I highly recommend this book, if you have any interest in the Middle East, Islam or travel literature. I've read Tim Mackintosh-Smith previous Ibn Battutah books and his book on Yemen, bu this epic trumps them all. I had a working knowledge of Islamic & Arabic history but this book really fills in the gaps. Written and narrated in a very entertaining, and sometimes, very funny way.

Stunning and comprehensive historical epic

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I am fascinated by this topic and I am persevering with the book because it is so comprehensive and detailed. However that also makes it very long and sometimes very dry and if I listen to this while sitting still, I have found myself falling asleep ! I listen to it now when cleaning and cooking and I’m enjoying it but again, you really need to concentrate to pick up all the detail.

Love the topic but sends me to sleep

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