Description
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.
Now available in paperback, Allen's highly acclaimed book details the importance of understanding the Arab world and its peoples, rather than focusing on the battles, wars and prejudices.
About the Author
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.
Reviews
"In Arabs, Mark Allen has written a gem of a book.... In addition to his analytical expertise, Allen's skills as an avid and accomplished falconer provided him a window onto Arab culture and societal values like no other.... Using anecdote and analysis, Allen reduces much of the confusion and misunderstanding that so frequently burden attempts by Westerners to fathom the nuance-laced interactions between cultures and societies."- John Duke Anthony, Middle East Journal, Vol. 61 No. 2 Spring 2007 -- Middle East Journal
"a sympathetic analysis of the forces shaping contemporary Arab society. He does not patronise or presume; simply, he tells it the way it is." John Townsend, Asain Affairs, July 2007 -- John Townsend
'This short book mixes personal anecdote, historical detail and academic insight in an engrossing exploration of Arab identity....Allen attempts a concise sketch of the essence of being Arab. First he clears away some common cultural misconceptions. Western ideas about Arab culture are, he contends, dominated by a fictional Arabia and anchored in the fundamental assumption that it is both romantic and pardoxical. Arabs is engagingly written and whets the appetite for more information about its subject.' Thomas Kollmann, Tribune Books, 7 July 2006 -- Thomas Kollmann
'a slim volume by one of Britain's leading diplomatic Arabists, Mark Allen, is an amiable and...useful guide....[Allen] offers a thoughtful pot-pourri of observations on the Arab psyche and identity.' ~ Economist, 22 July 2006
"Intriguing book... Allen is much better qualified than most to supply... His aim is not to criticize but to understand." Times Online, August 6, 2006 -- Brendan Simms
"In Arabs, Mark Allen has written a gem of a book... Allen's skills as an avid and accomplished falconer provided him a window into Arab cultural and societal values like no other" -- Middle East Journal * A Closer Look *
Book article in The Morning Star, by Geoff Simons -- Geoff Simons * Morning Star, The *
"Had this excellent little book been available to American policy makers in 2002, say, it might have provided a usefully sobering corrective to the exuberance of the neocons." "The flood of books that followed 11 September has tended to focus on politics and terrorism. Arabs offers a much more personal view" "thoughtful, sometimes whimsical, invariably elegant prose" "an illuminating discourse on what it means to be an Arab" -- Justin Marozzi * Spectator, The *
'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 -- Bruce Naderson * Sunday Telegraph *
Book discussion in Sunday Times online 06/08/2006 * Sunday Times *
'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 -- Michael Fitzgerald * Tablet, The *
Book Information
ISBN 9780826494023
Author Sir Mark Allen
Format Paperback
Page Count 160
Imprint Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd.
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Weight(grams) 170g
Now available in paperback, Allen's highly acclaimed book details the importance of understanding the Arab world and its peoples, rather than focusing on the battles, wars and prejudices.
About the Author
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.
Reviews
"In Arabs, Mark Allen has written a gem of a book.... In addition to his analytical expertise, Allen's skills as an avid and accomplished falconer provided him a window onto Arab culture and societal values like no other.... Using anecdote and analysis, Allen reduces much of the confusion and misunderstanding that so frequently burden attempts by Westerners to fathom the nuance-laced interactions between cultures and societies."- John Duke Anthony, Middle East Journal, Vol. 61 No. 2 Spring 2007 -- Middle East Journal
"a sympathetic analysis of the forces shaping contemporary Arab society. He does not patronise or presume; simply, he tells it the way it is." John Townsend, Asain Affairs, July 2007 -- John Townsend
'This short book mixes personal anecdote, historical detail and academic insight in an engrossing exploration of Arab identity....Allen attempts a concise sketch of the essence of being Arab. First he clears away some common cultural misconceptions. Western ideas about Arab culture are, he contends, dominated by a fictional Arabia and anchored in the fundamental assumption that it is both romantic and pardoxical. Arabs is engagingly written and whets the appetite for more information about its subject.' Thomas Kollmann, Tribune Books, 7 July 2006 -- Thomas Kollmann
'a slim volume by one of Britain's leading diplomatic Arabists, Mark Allen, is an amiable and...useful guide....[Allen] offers a thoughtful pot-pourri of observations on the Arab psyche and identity.' ~ Economist, 22 July 2006
"Intriguing book... Allen is much better qualified than most to supply... His aim is not to criticize but to understand." Times Online, August 6, 2006 -- Brendan Simms
"In Arabs, Mark Allen has written a gem of a book... Allen's skills as an avid and accomplished falconer provided him a window into Arab cultural and societal values like no other" -- Middle East Journal * A Closer Look *
Book article in The Morning Star, by Geoff Simons -- Geoff Simons * Morning Star, The *
"Had this excellent little book been available to American policy makers in 2002, say, it might have provided a usefully sobering corrective to the exuberance of the neocons." "The flood of books that followed 11 September has tended to focus on politics and terrorism. Arabs offers a much more personal view" "thoughtful, sometimes whimsical, invariably elegant prose" "an illuminating discourse on what it means to be an Arab" -- Justin Marozzi * Spectator, The *
'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 -- Bruce Naderson * Sunday Telegraph *
Book discussion in Sunday Times online 06/08/2006 * Sunday Times *
'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 -- Michael Fitzgerald * Tablet, The *
Book Information
ISBN 9780826494023
Author Sir Mark Allen
Format Paperback
Page Count 160
Imprint Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd.
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Weight(grams) 170g
