Highly recommended

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.

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Brilliant summary

Very detailed but summarised history of Arabic background. Excellent narration with the right tone of voice and feeling. Enjoyed it from start to finish.

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Great historical overview of ‘Arab’ history

Excellent overview of ‘Arab’ peoples history over 3000 years. Audio could’ve been better by correct pronunciations of Arabic names and terms.

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An excellent review.

It is well researched and presented. The narration is very good and it held my attention for the 37 hour duration of the book. The author is clearly a perceptive and enlightened man, his views well worth considering.

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Stunning and comprehensive historical epic

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.

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An extraordinary book with wonderful prose

I’ve finished 25 books since joining Audible 16 months ago. I’m listening to another 7 at the moment & have never bothered writing a review.

This incredible book however merits one.

Mackintosh-Smith has an extraordinary gift. His writing verges on poetry with the clever or witty, (often both) one-liners that pepper the story of the Arabs.

I’m not too sure why I even downloaded this book originally. I’ve never been particularly interested in the people or culture, (although as he points out there is no such thing as a homogeneous Arab people or culture), or the language.

However I loved it so much, I will now go down to Waterstones & buy a copy.

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3 people found this helpful

absolutely amazing!!!

loved it thoroughly! perhaps the most powerful book on Arab (&Islamic) history. would definitely recommend!

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Best Historic Book Ever Written About The Arabs.

This book answered hundreds of historical questions that i had about arabs. In addition to that the writer wrote the book based on historical facts rather than oriental based opinion. Tim Mackintosh Smith indeed produced the best historical book ever written about the arabs.

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A Masterpiece.

For anyone curious about the 'Middle East' and seeking a book that offers an entre, then look no further. Superbly and sympathetically written this book will lead you into the magic of the draft people's and beyond, Magnificent!

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A sweeping, eloquent history.

Tim Mackintosh-Smith lived in Yemen for about 30 years and speaks both MSA (Fus7a) and the local Sana'a dialect. His prose is incredibly eloquent. He translates complex Arabic poetry into English in such a way that not only does it not lose it's original meaning it actually rhymes like the Arab itself.

I really enjoyed the pre - Islamic areas of history, which I didn't know much about before. Some people have said that this is the area with the least details, but this is to be expected as for much of Arab history the past was oral and not written.

Mackintosh-Smith pulls on some common themes of Arab history, such as the tension between settled and nomadic people as outlined by scholars such as Ibn Khaldun, but also arguments that I haven't heard before. The author puts forward the idea that settled people of the South of the Peninsula (or island as Arabs describe it) influenced those further north, even influencing things like the Constitution of Medina.

If I had one criticism of the audiobook it's that they should have got an Arabic speaker to narrate it. As someone with a good knowledge of Fus7a and some dialects, I cringed at the pronunciation of some words by the narrator. In some cases, his pronunciation changed the meaning of the words he was trying to say. Surely there was someone they could have employed to give such a beautifully written book more justice?

In summary, a great book, beautifully written, which gives a sweeping overview of 3,000 years of history. I couldn't recommend the book enough, except the narration.

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