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Summary:
This new fourth edition of the classic introduction to Arab culture has been completely revised and updated to help readers understand the complex issues playing out on the world stage.
Understanding Arabs: A Guide for Modern Times is a handbook, intended to be read easily and quickly, by people who are not specialists. Written by highly-esteemed Arabist and academic Margaret Nydell, Understanding Arabs will bring about understanding about modern-day Arabs for foreigners—especially Westerners in America and Europe—without pushing a political agenda. Updated to reflect the complex events that are playing out on the world stage, new chapters include: Islamic Fundamentalism—This political and social issue is not a part of the mainstream Islamic religion. The efforts to follow and understand evolving Islamic social/religious thought have been completely overwhelmed by the notorious emergence of fundamentalism. Anti-Americanism: It needs to be made clear that Middle Eastern Muslims and Arabs do not "hate" America. Nor do they hate American people. But they are very angry at America’s government and a perceived unfairness with the American foreign policy. Between 1980 and 2001, the United States engaged in fifteen direct military operations in the Middle East, all of them directed at Muslims. There were an equal number of non-military actions such as imposing punitive embargoes, threats through military build-up, policies in support of some regional states against others, support of selected opposition groups, and providing weapons (sometimes secretly). What matters here is not the diplomatic issue of who we supported or why, the result has been that these actions are seen by local people as American interference in their region, and resentment has continued to build. Updated and expanded chapter on Arabs and Muslims in the West
Customer Reviews:
Average Customer Rating:
Disappointingly biased
Customer Rating:
I was very disappointed with this book. Reading it, I couldn't help but think that the author represents a viewpoint that is the opposite side of the coin of some of the harsher critics of Arabs and Islam. This is because the book reads more like an apologia for Arab failings and problems than it does a "handbook" (which is what the author claims she wrote it to be).
This is very evident in the chapters about militant Islam and anti-Americanism. The author obviously has tremendous empathy and sympathy for the Arab people, but she doesn't show a whole lot of empathy for the American people. She argues --and I think she's right-- that most Arabs don't hate individual Americans but instead hate America's government. But this sort of reasoning overlooks the fact that America's government was elected by the American people and its actions in the world reflect the consent of the majority of American people at least most of the time. In other words, a great deal of the actions of the American government that Arabs hate so much are just expressions of what we the American people (who Arabs profess not to hate) want and hold dear.
The author also says that a great deal of the hatred toward "the American government" is there because of our support for "corrupt, despotic Arab regimes." I won't deny that we have backed some rotten regimes in the past and not just in the Arab world. But ultimately, who is responsible for tolerating a corrupt autocracy or vicious dictatorship? It's the people ruled by them. If the people don't at least passively accept being misruled by such a regime, such a regime won't exist for very long. Go ask the Shah of Iran's ghost about that if you don't believe me. So what I'm saying here is that a great deal of the Arabs' predicament in the world is their own fault, but they displace that blame (like we Americans do sometimes ourselves) onto "the American government" instead of looking at themselves in the mirror.
So I think that unless you are the sort of person who thinks that any difficulties the US encounters in the world always have to be our fault and that the people who cause us difficulties don't have free will but are instead "puppets" only able to react to American "sins" I wouldn't bother reading this book.
A Good Review of Arabic Customs
Customer Rating:
A good review of Arabic customs, but Professor Nydell's frequent suggestions of how to get along with people in Arabic cultures often seemed to present them as judgmental and inflexible - exactly opposite of her intended goal, and contrary to most people's experience in Arab countries.
popular w/ Coalition forces in Iraq
Customer Rating:
This book circulated (dog-eared) among my rank-peers in Baghdad in 2007. It was highly-regarded among us and was considered recommended reading for new replacement officers. We craved such insights, and the book was confirming of some of our observations.
Great textbook
Customer Rating:
This book is a great textbook. It is written in a way that's enjoyable to read & easy to understand. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking to travel to the Middle East or even wants to understand more about the culture and customs in the Arab world. My professor, who lived in Egypt for several years, has only disagreed with the author on very few occasions. I wish all textbooks were this easy to read!
Love this book!
Customer Rating:
This book IS THE DEFINITIVE resource in educating the Western Mindset on how best to PRACTICALLY wrap oneself effectively toward relating with the Middle Eastern Mindset. A quick read, table of contents easily listing topics of interest, and practical tips on how to deal with prospective day-to-day interactions with an Arabic person in their home country.
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