Reading About Arabs

A reader asked in comments for books to inform about Arab culture. That's like asking for a reading list on American culture - where do you start? Some ideas:

Philip K. Hitti was a Princeton professor of history who wrote a long History of the Arabs. You may want to read the updated The Arabs: A Short History.

I've really enjoyed reading The Arab Americans: a History by Gregory Orfalea. On the literature side, you'll want to look for his anthology Grape Leaves: A Century of Arab-American Poetry. A revelation. Arab-American literary activity in the 1920s was vibrant and diverse. Who knew?

A book list on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, developed by Arab and Jewish scholars for a lecture series sponsored by Jewish Voice for Peace.

Marc Lynch's upcoming book on Arab Media is probably going to cover lots of ground you hadn't known about: satellite TV, talk shows, radio, etc.

More on the literary side: Peruse the Amazon list of strong Arab women writers (compiled by Rania Masri). I've read (or plan to read) many items on the list.

I've enjoyed at least one novel by the Franco-Lebanese writer Amin Maalouf: Leo Africanus - and I plan to track down The Crusades Through Arab Eyes and read that one of these days. It's important for Westerners to view through a different lens. Maalouf is an Arab but not a Muslim, by the way. Since he writes in French, he is not widely known here in the USA but his novels are informative and entertaining and deserve an audience here.

Tariq Ali, the British/Pakistani historian and writer, has published a multi-volume set of novels about the history of Islam. I bought the first two but lent them out to my mother before reading. She loves them. I believe she's got Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree (about the aftermath of the fall of Granada) and Saladin. I sent A Sultan in Palermo to my father-in-law for Christmas.

Reading fiction helps you get an emotional feeling for the culture as well as history. And while Islam and the Arabs are not one and the same, you must understand this early Islamic history to "get" anything about the Arab world today. Even those of us from Christian Arab backgrounds feel connected to this history.

I strongly recommend the anthology of short stories titled Dinarzad's Children - short fiction by Arab-American writers.

Look for a new anthology this spring from Interlink Books, edited by Nathalie Handal (who is a powerhouse of contemporary Arab letters) - it collects Anglophone Arab writers - don't know the title. A short piece of mine will be in it. And if you listen to Barbara Nimri Aziz on WBAI New York, stay tuned for an interview with me in which I read the piece. (She also interviewed my father, a poet).

You'll notice that I don't recommend anything by Bernard Lewis. I read him in college; however today many Arab and other scholars consider his viewpoint to be condescending and skewed. I'm not a specialist and it has been 25 years or so since *I* read him so I don't want to opine. You may find him interesting - just read him with this controversy in mind. If you read comments on Arab-American scholars like Albert Hourani and Philip Hitti posted in Amazon.com, you'll find these guys also spark hatred from some folks. Even the most respected of scholars get accused of bias from people who are fervently attached to their own points of view. Lewis himself is pained by the suggestion that he is anti-Arab or colonialist, etc. etc.

These are some of my suggestions. I am sure many readers will have comments or criticisms, but please, only constructive remarks. I'll delete nasty messages! This blog is like my living room, it's not a newspaper, a courtroom, or a political talk show. Welcome, and be kind.

Update: The ever-perceptive Alison asks why no Naguib Mahfouz? I listed mostly historical fiction from the deep past of the Arabs, didn't think of Mahfouz because he's so associated with early 20th century Cairo. But he's the most well known contemporary Arab author, and he's considered the Balzac of the Arab world. Therefore, please do read the Cairo trilogy. I have also read The Thief and the Dogs, and Miramar.

The topic of contemporary Arab literature is so vast that I don't feel qualified to give you a good "best of" list. However I'm an MFA grad student so I'll research it and get back to you.

If you're interested in a history/life portrait of Cairo, read Max Rodenbeck. Name-dropping moment - I'm researching my Cairo diaries circa 1983 for a short story, and find that Max took me to the Liberty cafe at least twice - in search of Naguib Mahfouz, because he famously hung out there in those days. We were both barely 21 years old. I am sure Max met him eventually but I never did.

Maria Golia's book on Cairo (see Amazon list at left) is more for the enthusiast, someone who is already familiar with the place. She gets into the many layers of the city, its language, its culture. I enjoyed it but it might be tough going for non-Arabic speakers or those who have never been to Egypt.

Further Update: People find this blog by searching on "Lebanon Reading"; however, as previously posted, they were missing this entry. If you want to understand Lebanon, you must also understand the history of the Arabs. Some patriotic, xenophobic Lebanese like to think of themselves as "not-Arabs" and somehow outside of the history of the Arabs. This view is silly and possibly harmful. If you only read the history of Lebanon and have no clue about the larger stories around that small country, you will become confused and make many ridiculous mistakes. If you are a policy maker in power you might make fatal mistakes. See Ariel Sharon and Ronald Reagan in 1982.

Comments

[Alison Chaiken]

No Naguib Mahfouz? Not "relevant" enough?

I greatly enjoyed reading Thomas Friedman's _From Beirut to Jerusalem_, which gives insight into daily life in Lebanon during the Civil War as well as offering a serious critique of U.S. support for Israel. I'd be interested to hear what others think of it. Clearly not everything Friedman has written recently is as insightful. His earlier book was informed by the fact that he actually lived in Beirut and Jerusalem.

[Tracey]

Thank you for this list! I ended up at Barnes and Noble today and picked up the first book you mentioned, History of the Arabs, by Philip K. Hitti. MY! It's a big book! LOL

Hey, ANY excuse to end up in a bookstore. I love to be surrounded by books.

[Leila]

D'oh!

I was just looking at Naguib Mahfouz's novels on my bookshelf, and musing over a larger, fiction list. How could I have left out Naguib Mahfouz? Probably because his books are so specific to Egypt that I wasn't thinking of them in terms of an overview. But I'm also realizing I ought to do a list that includes the folks on my Amazon booklist at left, plus other contemporaries. Oh dear.

I'll update with Mr. Mahfouz. I will also add Max Rodenbeck's book about Cairo.

I liked Friedman's book Beirut to Jerusalem when it first came out. Few people remember that Friedman was censored by his own paper, the New York Times, in the summer of 1982 while he reported from Beirut. The city was under siege by Israelis, who were using cluster bombs on the population. These weapons cause terrible wounds and horrible deaths, and the Israelis had promised they weren't going to use them on people, under terms of the sales agreement they signed - with the USA. So Friedman reported the cluster bombs dropping on Beirut, the New York Times censored the report because it was so shocking, and Friedman protested. It all came out in the Village Voice.

Nowadays he talks like a total jerk *sometimes* but I will always feel kindly toward him because of 1982.

[Aladdin]

Hello! Just came across your site, and it looks like I'll want to spend some time here. I definitely want to check out the Orfalea book. Have you seen Alixa Naff's BECOMING AMERICAN: THE ARAB AMERICAN EXPERIENCE? I thought it was quite good.

Please stop by my own site, Aladdin's Rant, at http://aladdinsrant.blogspot.com when you have the opportunity.

[praktike]

the crusades through arab eyes is excellent. I also recommend "samarkand," a novel of his that seems to draw from his experience in writing the non-fiction.

[Leila]

Samarkand is on my bookshelf - I haven't gotten to it yet. Oh dear. I should spend less time on the internet and more time with books.

[Amin Maalouf Website]

Amin Maalouf Website -
Biography, books, audio and video interviews, maps, ...
Have a nice visit !

http://www.aminmaalouf.narod.ru/

[James R MacLean]

I recommend, as I do to everyone, Abdulrahman Munif's *Cities of Salt* series. Another one I think is superb is Emile Habiby, *The Secret Life of Saeed the Pessoptimist*. Munif writes about an imaginary kingdom based on a conmposite of the Trucial States and Saudi Arabia (not, as some half-wits claim, Jordan).

I don't wish to be rude, but I find Friedman's writing intolerably horrid. It's basically Bernard Lewis' on valium. I read *What Went Wrong* by Lewis (it was a gift) and I must say it's vile. There, but for the grace of God, goes rancid sewage.

[yenayer]

And no mention of "Orientalism" by Edward Said ?