A review by borednoodle
A History of the Arab Peoples by Albert Hourani

4.0

Often times reads too much like a long list of this "this ruler took over and then this ruler took over and then this ruler took over". It's just not the kind of information that I can possibly retain. The more modern history was fascinating (especially around the time of the formation of Israel), but the ancient history (prior to about the 19th century) was hard to follow.

At least Islamic culture prior the 19th century valued education and written forms of communication, so the fact that the ancient history was as thoroughly documented as it was is a minor miracle.