The Arabs: A History – Revised and Updated Edition

Eugene Rogan's The Arabs - A History is a remarkable tour de force. Drawn almost exclusively from Arab sources, it covers the period from the rise of the Ottoman Empire over the Arab World in the 16th century to the American invasion of Iraq and its "war on terror" (for which read, "Arab terror") in the 21st century. Excellent in its detailed description and analytical incisiveness, I personally found the chapters dealing with the first decade of the 20th century and how the European powers in real malevolent, brutal and Machiavellian fashion brought the Arab world to submission especially rich. Also very powerful is the whole section on the British in Palestine and the cruel chaos of their legacy. The history of this entire period, to today, is one of Arab subordination to external forces. Occasionally glimpses of sunlight appear, whether Naaser's pan-Arabism or the power of oil, only to evaporate. As the author insists, the failure of the Arab world - for failure is the appropriate operative term - derives in part from the malignancy of external forces - the Ottomans, the Europeans, then the Americans - but also from the inability of the Arabs to properly get their act together or to evolve respectable and legitimate forms of governance.As the review in The Economist (14 Nov 2009) pointed out, this is very much of a political history. Those wishing to know more about the economics, sociology or culture (both highbrow and lowbrow) will be disappointed. Rogan at the end cites the Arab Human Development Report and how it laments the low level of education in the Arab world, yet in his own volume there is virtually nothing about education. Perhaps this could be a future tome!Even those who might claim to be reasonably familiar with the history of the region (including the present reviewer) will stand to gain a lot more insight on the whole mess of the West's imposition of and subsequent support for Israel in the region. There can be no doubt whatsoever that the Arabs, of course primarily the Palestinians, were dealt a very humiliating and cruel series of blows, from which they continue to suffer.Rogan's The Arabs should be made required reading for policy makers, especially in the US and also for the UK entourage of Tony Blair. Had the Blair/Bush intellectual midget duo read Rogan's book, the history of the region and the world in the early 21st century could have been very different. The fact that Tony Blair was appointed Middle East Quartet Representative adds immense insult to the long-standing injuries of the Arab people.Of course American and British policy makers may not read the book. You can bring a donkey to water, but you can't make it drink! But I would very strongly recommend this book also to the much wider public.I strongly recommend this book as a means for a much clearer understanding of the Arab world, but also of the world more generally.

I found Eugene Rogan’s The Arabs - A History to be very engaging and hard to put down. Professor Rogan, who teaches modern history of the Middle East at the University of Oxford, has mastered the facts and events of history that shaped the Middle East.Rogan presents a wide-ranging and easy to read account of the political history of the Arab world from the time of the Ottomans and attempts to explain how the modern Middle East came to pass. The book is well written and each chapter has a theme which covers a period of history, flowing along chronological lines. It is an essential background for the current situation of the Middle East. Even those who are familiar with the history of the Arabs will stand to benefit from valuable insight.This landmark book written by a distinguished author deserves more than 5 star rating.

I purchased this book as I wanted to read an overview of Middle Eastern history and this book certainly fits the bill - it reads like the next definitive textbook written for first year university students. Each chapter has a theme and each chapter covers a period of history, flowing along chronological lines starting in 1516 and finishing well around now. It's a dense tome, somewhat heavy going in places, there are masses of references, some black and white photos splattered in the middle and every page is evidence of a great deal of research and background knowledge of the subject matter. I could almost hear the silence in the university library, as fact follows fact.Each chapter follows the same format, there is a theme or heading which provides structure to the content, for example, ''The Arab Challenge to Ottaman Rule'' or ''The Decline of Arab Nationalism''. Then each chapter is split up into a few pages highlighting what happened during that specific period of time (in the context of the theme) in a number of different countries. Each chapter covers the same set of countries, so we learn about Syria, Palestine (including Israel), Iraq, Egypt, the Gulf States and North Africa. There is more limited information on Turkey and more or less nothing about Iran. This format is good as a vehicle for conveying lots of facts, and the use of a theme creates context but for me the analysis at the beginning and end of each chapter was the most readable and often most interesting piece. With all this moving around between countries, it does help to break up the information into small bite-able chunks but its also hard going as you try and remember what happened for example in Tunisia in the previous chapter in the previous time period. As a result I found certain sections a struggle but carried on nevertheless as it delivers a detailed overview of the political developments, in the author's chosen countries recent history.Closing the last page, and I did read every word, I was a little disappointed with the extent of the analysis given the author's background and obvious knowledge of the subject. I would have liked him to take more of a chance and stick his neck out on what he personally believes might be solutions to some of the thorny questions out there. If you want a more readable history, then I thoroughly enjoyed `'Destiny Disrupted'', which is in a way a complement to this book covering large themes but not all the detail but if you want the detail then this is the book for you.