THE THIRD EDITION OF THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER REVISED AND UPDATEDA rich galloping narrative that spans the Arab world...outstanding gripping and exuberant...full of flamboyant character sketches witty asides and magisterial scholarship that explains much of what we need to know about the world today Simon Sebag MontefioreAnyone who seeks to understand why the Islamic world bears a grudge against the West should read The Arabs Sir Alaistair HorneStarting with the Ottoman conquests in the sixteenth century this landmark book follows the story of the Arabs through the era of European imperialism and the Superpower rivalries of the Cold War to the present age of unipolar American power. Drawing on the writings and eyewitness accounts of those who lived through the tumultuous years of Arab history The Arabs balances different voices politicians intellectuals students men and women poets and novelists famous infamous and the completely unknown to give a rich complex sense of life over nearly five centuries.Rogans book is remarkable for its geographical sweep covering the Arab world from North Africa through the Arabian Peninsula and for the depth in which it explores every facet of modern Arab history. Charting the evolution of Arab identity from Ottomanism to Arabism to Islamism it covers themes including the conflict between national independence and foreign domination the ArabIsraeli struggle and the peace process Abdel Nasser and the rise of Arab Nationalism the political and economic power of oil and the conflict between secular and Islamic values.This multilayered fascinating and definitive work is the essential guide to understanding the history of the modern Arab world and its future.