Arabs

Arabs

by Mark Allen (Author)

Synopsis

The level of noise about the Arab world is increasing. Security and energy are major concerns. Wars and globalisation are pushing the Arabs and Westerners into closer contact. Understanding the Arabs has never been more important, never so critical to our dealings with the Arab world where the personal often matters most. Yet, few books have tried to bring out this personal factor, to describe the people behind the events and strategic trends, to say what they are like and why. This book recognises the Arabs' diversity and then reaches beyond to identify the core themes which give the Arab world its distinctive personality and sense of community. These themes - family, religion, Arabism and power - track an experience very different to our own. They illuminate the Arabs values and aspirations, the dilemmas they face in a time of change. Mark Allen's brilliant analysis comes of 35 years' study of the Arab world, 'being both friend and enemy'. His insight into faith, culture and attitudes to power explains much about the contradictions, the restlessness and the tension we now see in the region.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 160
Edition: New edition
Publisher: Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd.
Published: 09 Mar 2007

ISBN 10: 0826494021
ISBN 13: 9780826494023

Media Reviews
'There are 22 members of the League of Arab States, going from Algeria to Yemen, but including the Conorros Islands...What is the common factor uniting these states? Is it blood/ethnicity, religion or power? Who in fact are Arabs? This is the question that Mark Allen trues to answer-and he admits that no easy answer can be given. Allen provides no simple answer to his question, but illustrates, in a lively, entertaining manner, all its complexities.'
Michael Fitzgerald, The Tablet, 8 July 2006--Sanford Lakoff The American Spectator
'This is one of the more important short books to have appeared in English in recent years....this books arguments are allusive and elusive. Allen may know a lot, but he is the last person to be impressed by his own knowledge. He is always searching for the unknown.'

' The flavour and excitement of this book is captured in an analogy which the author draws with bird-watching. An ornithologist would say that I am interested in the jizz of the Arab. That is his jargon for the overall and essential impression a bird makes...the jizz is the spirit of the thing...a compound which unlocks an intensity from the memory in a flash of inspiration.

This book will be essential reading for those interested in the Middle East, But it will provide enjoyment for anyone who would like to indulge a little curiosity while savouring fine prose.'

Bruce Anderson, Sunday Times, 16 July 2006 --Sanford Lakoff Sunday Telegraph
Author Bio
Sir Mark Allen was educated at Downside and Oxford. He has recently retired from a outstanding career with the FCO. He is now a consultant to Pearson/Longman and BP. He lives in London but still travels extensively.