Arabs A 3,000-Year History Of Peoples, Tribes And Empires

A SUNDAY TIMES AND TLS BOOK OF THE YEAR Masterly and brilliantSimon Sebag Montefiore A book of vast scope and stunning insight.Anthony Sattin, Spectator Commanding erudition and a swashbuckling style define this history of the ArabsJustin Marozzi, Sunday Times 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 MackintoshSmith 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. MackintoshSmith reveals how linguistic developmentsfrom preIslamic poetry to the growth of script, Muhammad s use of writing, and the later problems of printing Arabichave helped and hindered the progress of Arab history, and investigates how, even in today s politically fractured postArab Spring environment, Arabic itself is still a source of unity and disunity.