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The Arabs: A Short History
by Philip K. Hitti
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Gateway Editions (1996-01-25)
ISBN: 0895267063
EAN: 9780895267061
Dewy Decimal #: 909.0974927
Paperback: 274 pages
SKU: 08040326
Condition: Very Good As issued
Comments: Trade Paperback. Very Good plus condition with no markings. No highlights, underlines or notes in text. No creases to spine with slight crease in front cover. Minor wear to cover. Tight binding and clean crisp text. Very Nice copy.
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
An ideal introduction to Arab history and culture.
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Customer Reviews
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Outdated and of minimal worth
Rating  (2)
Date: 2008-10-07
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
I heartily echo the poor reviews others give this book. _The Arabs: a short history_ was first published in 1943; why the publisher felt the need to reprint it is a mystery to me, given not only the changes that have taken place in the region, but most significantly in the scholarship that has been done in the last 60 years. This book has not aged well.
First, its few strengths: Hitti does a solid job of explaining Arabia before Mohammed: the culture, societal organization, and the economic and political ties amongst the Bedouin are among the best I have read. To understand Arabic (and by extension, Islamic) civilization, one must first understand the climate from which it was born. In this vein, Hitti also does a tremendous service by connecting these roots of Arabic culture to the growth and expansion of Islam, and the political trials and tribulations of the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates.
Sadly, the portions of the book that I found disfavor with outweigh these bright points. To begin with, I found myself regularly shaking my head at his repeated references to "the Arabic race" - race is an artifical construct (unless one speaks of the "human race") - there is no more an Arabic race than there is an American race or any other group you wish to define in racial terms. (To be clear: I am not being "politically correct" here, but merely stating an anthropological and sociological fact that illustrates the vast difference 60 years makes in examining a topic.) Hitti does this not only with Arabs, but with Mamelukes as well (Egyptian slaves under the Fatimids, I know of no serious contemporary historian who would make the claim they were a "race"),
To be fair, Hitti's history is one of "the Arabs" - and therefore Mongols, Turks and Persians are out of the scope of the book, to my disappointment. The primary focus of his history is on the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties, with only a cursory mention of the Fatimids in Egypt. This is another weakness: I can understand his leaving out the later conquests of the Turks and Persians of the Near East - the Fatimids, though, clearly should be a part of his survey and deserved more attention than the scant nod given here. Another shortcomming was his discussion of the sunni/shi'ii split. To virtually ignore such a critical event is akin to discussing the history of Europe without mention of the Reformation.
Even making allowances for the emphasis on the early Muslim dynasties, Hitti's summary of the rise and fall of these families is at times vague, stating that among the reasons for the collapse of the Abbasids was their "luxurious living with its emphasis on wine and song ... (which) sapped the vitality of family life." The complex web of political ties and rivalries, climatic changes and external political forces should have been made much more apparent.
For those interested in a basic primer on the birth and growth of Islam, or who are seeking a brief history of the early Islamic empires, look elsewhere. Hitti was a man of his time, and it shows in his writing. There are better histories of the region available that reflect more recent scholarship and less loaded language than you will find here.
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Superficial, vague, uncritical, minimally informative
Rating (2)
Date: 2008-07-04
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
This book was first written in the late 1940s and is a product of that time: the Arab world was under colonial occupation and the crisis in the Middle East was only beginning. As such, this book was intended as an introduction of an unknown civilization to an American audience with very little knowledge of the area. It is written at about the high school senior level. Even worse, it is designed to paint a posiive picture, glossing over anything untoward. Moreover, it is an abridgment of a longer work, a sure sign of its lightness.
This book essentially covers the high points of Arab civilization, from just before Muhammed (7C) to the fall of the Mamluks to the Turks in the 15C. The most interesting portion deals with Islam's golden age, when the empire had expanded and the culture was eclectic, ready to absorb everything it could from the occupied peoples. At this time, the Arab caliphate absorbed not just Greco-Roman ideas at the darkest time of the dark ages, but also Persian and Indian influences. The result was a great flowering of a new synthesis, one of the most important ever to emerge.
Unfortunately, Hitti covers this in such a superficial way that I was continually disappointed, to the point of disgust. For example, when discussing the Muslim contributions to science, he notes that they advanced knowledge and invented something close to the scientific method, but somehow failed to take it far enough. He does not explain what he means, but simply states it that way! Even a single example would have helped...Indeed, much of the book is a simple listing of the great men of the time, most of whom the reader will not know, with virtually no explanation of what they did to advance their fields in context. That is the kind of treatment not acceptable in high school textbooks of today.
As the book is so short, the reader gets the gist of what occurred, which I suppose is all that can be expected. This is certainly useful, but it is handled in a way that fails to stimulate the appetite for more, at least for me. That is a sign of failure. In addition, there are many things that are neglected, such as a full explanation about the Sunni-Shia split, which receives only passing mention. Furthermore, a last chapter is tacked on that is supposed to bring the reader up to the 1970s, but it is utterly useless to explain the rise of such backward looking movements as the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Wahabism in Saudia Arabia, or al Qua'ida today, not to forget the dilemma of Israel.
I cannot recommend this book. For the last 2 years, I have been on a binge of books on Islam and the Middle East. I can state without reservation that this one is the worst of the lot.
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Interesting --- no axe to grind
Rating  (4)
Date: 2004-06-24
2 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
I found this book interesting and entertaining -- given the time frame when it was written it is less warped and biased by current events and politics. The Ottoman period is missing.
Worth reading.
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Lesser known history
Rating  (5)
Date: 2003-09-13
5 out of 7 customers found this reveiw helpful
This history book covers primarily the Islamic Arabian empire, in the period from around 600 AD (the advent of Islam) to around 1500 AD when the last remnants of the empire fell. A few chapters at the beginning and the end address the pre-Islamic Arabs, and also the post empire period through about 1950. I'm pretty sure Professor Hitti is an Arab and a Moslem (though I don't have confirmation), and his perspective is enlightening, though occasionally he comes across as a bit "rah rah". I recommend this book as a good introduction to someone (like me) who doesn't know much about the rise of Islam and the subsequent empire. The book is pretty short so it is something of a summary, but Hitti has a longer work titled "History of the Arabs" which you could move on to.
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This is the place to start
Rating (5)
Date: 2002-08-06
9 out of 11 customers found this reveiw helpful
At just over two hundred pages, this book is the place to start learning Arabic history. Although it is certainly not the most detailed or precise account, its brevity ensures that a novice will not be overwhelmed with strange names and minute details of unfamiliar events.Hitti's Short History will be quite useful to social studies teachers who want to give their students short articles on Arabic history to read. Each chapter in this book is short enough to serve that purpose. There are also eight nice maps that will help students of all levels develop a better understanding of how Islam changed the world.
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