The Arabs: A History

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.

Rogan offers a sweeping, clear sighted and easy to read account of the political history of the Arab world from the time of the Ottomans. It is not a cultural history. This seems as good an introduction as any to this subject and a helpful background to events in this part of the world today. If like me you get frustrated by news coverage of the middle east that it limited to the latest sensations and doesn't attempt to explain how the modern middle east came to pass, this one is for you. Not in the least, being able to understand more clearly the part the imperial powers have played in creating such a mess and so many tragedies. Persevere with the interminable names of key figures in each country over the last few hundred years and you will find this book gathers pace as a real page turner which throws light on such misunderstood peoples. The book may have its more scholastic critics and there may I'm sure be more academic treatises out there. So far as this lay reader is able to tell, Rogan takes care to be even handed when it comes to appraising the historic foreign overlords of the Arab peoples, inter-Arab conflict and the Israeli-Palestine question. His is a 'stuff happened' approach but suggests a handful of key themes driving the development of this part of the world as we see it today. Rogan ends the book optimistic that things can change for the better - I'm not so sure as every day we see old emnities and rivalries being acted out which only serve to frustrate the arab man and woman in the street who just want what we all want in life. I learnt a lot and unhesitatingly recommend it.

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.

Put the book on shelf for sometime and just started to read .. history is just fascinating!!!

アラブの歴史を理解したい…という思いは以前からありましたが、これまで、日本語の書物を手にするたびに挫折を繰り返していました。その点、本書はページ数（分量）にやや圧倒されましたが、中世からのアラブの歴史につき、とても整理されており、大変わかりやすく、また、時に臨場感溢れる感じで、読者を引き付けるスタイルで書かれております。中身が濃いだけに「一歩一歩」といった感じでしたが、最後まで読み遂げることができました。とても参考になりますね。

Short and quick: I'm an armchair historian, with a focus on American history. I am 57 years old. The "Middle East" has been "background noise" (please, I am not minimizing anything here) my entire life--noise, because I had no understanding about why anything that was happening there was happening. I knew the Ottoman Empire had existed. I knew that Britain and France had established colonial regimes across North Africa and through the Middle East. I knew about Zionism and the establishment of Israel. I knew vaguely about Nasser, the B'ath Party, that there'd been a "United Arab Republic" that strangely joined Egypt and Syria. I knew about terrorism and the wars and the calamities. But it was all noise because it made no sense to me because I didn't know the history of the Arab peoples. Well, now I know their history, at least as well as one can learn it from a 500 page book, and it's no longer "noise." I have some basic sense for why what has happened did and why what is happening now does. This book is essential reading (I paired it with Laquer's magisterial "A History of Zionism" to get a fuller knowledge base) for anyone who wants the "noise" to make some sense. Rogan writes thoughtfully and easily. His chapter on the rise of Arab nationalism in the years after Nasser's revolution in Egypt is a tour de force. His explication of the rotten legacy of imperialism and the insanity of the Cold War as it played out in the Middle East is compelling/ Some of the book is difficult reading: the Israelis have never claimed to be saints and his chapter on Palestine, the British Mandate and the Partition will not go down well with many people. But nothing in the Middle East goes down well and the book, overall, is a balanced, articulate and well-written history of the ARAB peoples, from the ARAB peoples' perspective. Read this book.

This is an excellent, highly readable study which covers the whole history of Arab peoples and their region but focuses on the "modern" history since around 1800. Highly readable and well digestable for laymen, it still gives valuable advide to the expert and, above all, a superb overlook of the topic, giving various clues and drawing on a broad variety of sources. - The Kindle Edition does not offer the best paper quality, so looking at my 20 year old paperbacks on my shelves, I wonder what it will look like in 10 or 20 years. Still, I suppose it will keep a better shape than the paperback edition (which is considerably cheaper).

The Arabs: A History, by Eugene Rogan is a scholarly, detailed and oustanding (but eminently readable) review of Arab history from the time of the founding of the Caliphate and the Ottoman Empire in the early 1500s. The detail is never tedious and Rogan's prose moves very rapidly. The endnotes are appropriate. As for more recent history, President G. W. Bush and his administration are roundly criticised where appropriate, but Rogan leaves history itself later to judge the corollaries of 9/11. The book is sympathetic to the Arab past and outlines directly and indirectly paths to a better future. This is the sort of book that should be required reading for US State Department senior people, and with any luck President Obama might have time to read it. It is more scholarly than The Arabs: A Comprehensive History by Peter Mansfield, but doesn't cover quite as much ground, starting as it does in the summer of 1516.