Play Audiobook Sample
Arabs: A 3,000-Year History of Peoples, Tribes, and Empires Audiobook
Play Audiobook Sample
(0.00) - 0 listener ratings
Quick Stats About this Audiobook
Total Audiobook Chapters:
Longest Chapter Length:
Shortest Chapter Length:
Average Chapter Length:
Audiobooks by this Author:
Publisher Description
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.
Download and start listening now!
“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.”
— Literary Review
Quotes
-
"[A] superb account of the Arabs over three millennia.”
— Wall Street Journal -
“Commanding erudition and a swashbuckling style define this history of the Arabs.”
— Sunday Times (London) -
"[An] extraordinary new survey.”
— New Statesman -
“There can hardly be a better guide than Mackintosh-Smith, who has near-mythical status among western observers of the Middle East.”
— Irish Times (Dublin) -
“This brilliant and fascinating history book will change the way we analyze the happenings in the Arab world.”
— Washington Book Review -
“A marvelous journey brimming with adventure and poetry and narrated by a keen, compassionate observer.”
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review) -
“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.”
— Barnaby Rogerson, author of The Last Crusaders -
“Quite brilliant…I am full of admiration for this inspiring book, with its quite original and timely view of Arab historical identity.”
— Philip Kennedy, author of Recognition in the Arabic Narrative Tradition -
“Superb. What really distinguishes this book from others is the sheer number of its insights into Arab history, all of which are tantalizing.”
— Steven C. Caton, professor of contemporary Arab studies at Harvard University -
“Arabs is a refined and pleasing tour through the history of a remarkable people, civilization, and language.”
— Jonathan A. C. Brown, Alwaleed bin Talal Chair of Islamic Civilization at Georgetown University
Awards
-
An Amazon Best Book of the Month
-
A #1 Amazon.com bestseller in Oman History
-
One of Kirkus Reviews’ Best Books of the Year in Nonfiction
Arabs Listener Reviews
Be the first to write a review about this audiobook!
About Tim Mackintosh-Smith
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.
About Ralph Lister
Ralph Lister is an actor, voice actor, and AudioFile Earphones Award–winning narrator. He spent fifteen years in London theater before moving to the United States to focus on film and television. He has held numerous roles in Shakespeare and modern dramas, as well as starring roles in independent films. His voice and character work can be heard in Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearland 13 Going On 30. He lives in Los Angeles.