'It is difficult to overestimate the signal importance of this book for this time. Here at last is a genuinely readable, genuinely responsive history of the Arabs.' - Edward Said
A History of the Arab Peoples covers not only political history, but also culture, society, economy and thought, in a work of profound and lasting importance. A distillation of the late Albert Hourani's lifetime of scholarship, it was a best-seller on first publication in 1991. This edition, updated by Malise Ruthven, includes such recent events as the on-going crisis in Iraq, the civil war in Algeria and the aftermath of September 11th.
