Arabs: A 3,000-Year History of Peoples, Tribes and Empires
Charles O. Cecil
Tim Mackintosh-Smith
2019, Yale UP, 978-0-30018-0-282, $35 hb.
Who is an “Arab”? What makes one identify as Arab? Mackintosh-Smith sets out to examine these questions in this erudite, carefully crafted book. He does not take a strictly chronological approach. Rather, he pursues themes sometimes leading him to skip over details in the story, only to return to backfill later. Notably, he deals with the historical, cultural and centrifugal forces that have prevented Arabs from achieving the unity so many have sought for generations, while the magnetic attraction of language pulls them together. Readers who know Arabic likely will appreciate his approach more than those who do not. While seasoning the text with relevant translations of poetry and observations regarding the origin and meaning of Arabic words, his style remains light and entertaining. Mackintosh-Smith is as adept at coining a phrase in English as he is at interpreting terms in Arabic. This is a book that will be read by lay readers and scholars for decades.
You may also be interested in...
The Vanishing Sea by Artist Dinara Mirtalipova—Our Book Review
How often do we take nature for granted, assuming it will never vanish? In US-based folk illustrator Dinara Mirtalipova’s new children’s book, a sea is the main character: the one that provides livelihood and prosperity, until humans’ poor choices cause its demise.
Author Aminata Sow Fall’s Empire of Illusion—Our Book Review
What do we owe each other? What do we owe ourselves? These are the questions that Senegalese author Aminata Sow Fall has posed for nearly half a century.