'The Arab revolutions of 2011 took the world by surprise. After decades of stability under autocratic regimes, the Arab world seemed suddenly to find itself in a whirlwind of rapid and radical change. Yet there is no surer way to predict the future than to look to the past. This is precisely the path taken by the eminent British historian Eugene Rogan. His book describes the history of the Arab states of North Africa, the Fertile Crescent, and the Arabian Peninsula from the 16th century onward. Of particular interest is the detailed account of the turning points in the history of the Arab world in the 20th century. In his work, the author draws on a wide range of Arab sources, including numerous eyewitness accounts: historians, intellectuals, politicians, journalists, writers, and ordinary men and women. Thanks to this, we not only learn the history of the Arab world, but also get the opportunity to look at it through the eyes of the Arabs themselves—the people who created it.
The book is addressed to anyone interested in the past and present of the Arab countries and wants to understand the origins of those significant events that are happening in the Middle East and throughout the Arab world today.
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