The Arabs
A History
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Narrated by:
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Derek Perkins
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By:
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Eugene Rogan
About this listen
In this definitive history of the modern Arab world, award-winning historian Eugene Rogan draws extensively on Arab sources and texts to place the Arab experience in its crucial historical context for the first time. Tracing five centuries of Arab history, Rogan reveals that there was an age when the Arabs set the rules for the rest of the world. Today, however, the Arab world's sense of subjection to external powers carries vast consequences for both the region and Westerners who attempt to control it.
Updated with a new epilogue, The Arabs is an invaluable, groundbreaking work of history.
©2009 Eugene Rogan; revised introduction and postscript copyright 2016 by Eugene Rogan (P)2016 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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In Enemies and Neighbors, Ian Black, who has spent over three decades covering events in the Middle East and is currently a fellow at the London School of Economics, offers a major new history of the Arab-Zionist conflict from 1917 to today. Laying the historical groundwork in the final decades of the Ottoman Era, when the first Zionist settlers arrived in the Holy Land, Black draws on a wide range of sources - from declassified documents to oral histories to his own vivid on-the-ground reporting - to recreate the major milestones in the most polarizing conflict of the modern age from both sides.
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Decent historical compilation, poor framing
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The Cold War's Killing Fields
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- Unabridged
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In this sweeping, deeply researched book, Paul Thomas Chamberlin boldly argues that the Cold War, long viewed as a mostly peaceful, if tense, diplomatic standoff between democracy and communism, was actually a part of a vast, deadly conflict that killed millions on battlegrounds across the postcolonial world. For half a century, as an uneasy peace hung over Europe, ferocious proxy wars raged in the Cold War’s killing fields, resulting in more than 14 million dead - victims who remain largely forgotten and all but lost to history.
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The Middle East has long been a region of rival religions, ideologies, nationalisms, and ambitions. All of these conflicts are rooted in the region's political inheritance: the arrangements, unities, and divisions imposed by the Allies after the First World War. Author David Fromkin reveals how and why the Allies drew lines on an empty map that remade the geography and politics of the Middle East. Focusing on the formative years of 1914 to 1922, when all seemed possible, he delivers in this sweeping and magisterial book the definitive account of this defining time.
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Power, Faith, and Fantasy
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From the first cannonballs fired by American warships at North African pirates to the conquest of Falluja by the Marines, and from the early American explorers who probed the sources of the Nile to the diplomats who strove for Arab-Israeli peace, the United States has been dramatically involved in the Middle East. For well over two centuries, American statesmen, merchants, and missionaries, both men and women, have had a profound impact on the shaping of this crucial region.
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Ukraine is currently embroiled in a tense fight with Russia to preserve its territorial integrity and political independence. But today's conflict is only the latest in a long history of battles over Ukraine's territory and its existence as a sovereign nation. As the award-winning historian Serhii Plokhy argues in The Gates of Europe, we must examine Ukraine's past in order to understand its present and future.
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An extraordinarily good book
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Glass has reported extensively from the Middle East and travelled frequently in Syria over several decades. Here he melds together reportage, analysis, and history to provide an accessible overview of the origins and permutations defining the conflict, situating it clearly in the overall crisis of the region. His voice, elegant and concise, humane and richly informed, is a vital antidote to the sloganizing that shapes so much commentary and policy concerning the civil war.
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The authors bias is insufferable.
- By Dan on 01-02-16
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Stalin, Volume I
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Volume One of Stalin begins and ends in January 1928 as Stalin boards a train bound for Siberia, about to embark upon the greatest gamble of his political life. He is now the ruler of the largest country in the world, but a poor and backward one, far behind the great capitalist countries in industrial and military power, encircled on all sides. In Siberia, Stalin conceives of the largest program of social reengineering ever attempted.
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Excellent Book But First Time Listener Beware
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The Vietnam War
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Hailed as a "pithy and compelling account of an intensely relevant topic" ( Kirkus Reviews), this wide-ranging volume offers a superb account of a key moment in modern U.S. and world history. Drawing upon the latest research in archives in China, Russia, and Vietnam, Mark Lawrence creates an extraordinary, panoramic view of all sides of the war.
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Politically Slanting But Enjoyable Narrative
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1848
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In 1848, a violent storm of revolutions ripped through Europe. The torrent all but swept away the conservative order that had kept peace on the continent since Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo in 1815 - but which in many countries had also suppressed dreams of national freedom. Political events so dramatic had not been seen in Europe since the French Revolution, and they would not be witnessed again until 1989, with the revolutions in Eastern and Central Europe.
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1848 by Mike Rapport
- By Aria Amirbahman on 02-07-22
By: Mike Rapport
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What listeners say about The Arabs
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Benny
- 06-06-16
A must listen for anyone interested in current events
This book is an excellent overview of Arab history and should be listened to by anyone interested in, and confused by, current events in the Middle East. The only way to understand the present is to study the past. Well written, and well narrated.
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11 people found this helpful
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- Reebs
- 04-07-17
Amazing capturing storyline!
Where does The Arabs rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
This is one of the most captivating books I've listened to. I was skeptical about a 27 hour long book but I truly wanted this book to be even longer.
The storyline was so well done and fair. Zooming in on individual stories and zooming back out to the larger macro-political view.
Who was your favorite character and why?
Despite this being factual based, the book captured many "character" like stories throughout. For example, the story of Gamal Abdel Nasser and Muhammad Ali.
If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?
Glimpse of hope in a dark past.
Any additional comments?
Would have loved to hear about some of the major revolutions around the Arab world such as Omar Al Moukhtar and Sultan Basha Al Atrach but the book had so much to offer to offset this.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Naji R. Constantine
- 07-17-16
Very interesting and informative
Really enjoyed the book. The history regarding the second Iraq war was at best incomplete and one sided, and at worst biased to reflect the author's political views. The result was contradiction and confusion. The book was excellent up to the epilogue and the post script where it lost some of it's historical integrity.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Jason Cherniak
- 02-21-17
Biased but worthwhile
This is a good way to understand the Arab view of the last 200 odd years. It's extremely biased, though, once it gets past WWII. I'd say it goes from being a history of the Arabs to the Arab take on Israel with all the usual half-truths.
As just one example, in dealing with the peace negotiations of 2000 and 2001 the author says Israel offered more than ever before, but it wasn't enough. The author doesn't give an actual percentage or an explanation of why it wasn't enough. It is more a statement of opinion than an historical analysis or explanation. Throughout, he states it as a fact that Arafat wanted a two state solution without considering the alternative view that might explain Arafat's decision to not make peace in 2001.
That said, even going back to 1967 and particularly 1973 there are some interesting tidbits that I never knew before and do provide a different, useful perspective. I recommend this, but you have to be prepared to either get annoyed if you disagree or be aware of the bias if you don't already have an understanding of the history.
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10 people found this helpful
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- Isaac T. Knowles
- 05-31-20
Fantastic performance, informative history
Derek Perkins's narration is stellar. The book itself is quite good, but if I have one complaint, it is that too much focus was placed on military clashes large and small, a bit too little on the social and political fights that gave rise to the armed sort. But still a fascinating book.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Deepak
- 08-24-16
Simply outstanding. A must-read.
Excellent. Written by an Oxford historian who really knows how to write. Highly recommend it.
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- JK
- 01-14-23
HIGHLY RECOMMEND
This is a long book, but all of it kept my interest. It is the history of the Arabs, starting in the 1500’s till the early 2000’s.
I read the long review by “ Nostromo” , on which I based buying the book and of course my interest in world history.
I cannot add to his review, except that I highly recommend listening to this book.
Eugene Rogan is an outstanding historian and the narrator, mr. Derek Perkins is as good as always to listen to.
My thanks to all involved, JK.
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- Aline Tucker
- 03-01-23
Superb
Quality explanation of a nation that I am still learning about and do my best to understand. Thank you!
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- Elizabeth Bohannon
- 07-25-16
Excellent Education
I am grateful for the author's treatment of this important subject. I now understand the common threads that tie together events remembered as distinct. Many nations have had a hand in creating the environment that made it possible for people to commit so many atrocities. We in the west should commit ourselves to learning about this region from sources other than the press and politicians.
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7 people found this helpful
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- Mudar
- 07-07-16
Excellent Book
A great overview of the history of the Arabs, and must read for anyone interested in learning that region.
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2 people found this helpful