Customer Reviews

Understanding Arabs: A Guide for Modern Times

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If you are interested in a primer on Arab culture, then this book is a great starting point. The author is a scholar, but she does not clutter up her pages with the usual scholarly citations and endless equivocations. Instead, she presents a practical, understandable, readable guide to Arab culture.

Obviously, no one can cover all aspects of Arab culture in such a small book. That is okay. I needed a shorter book for my class on Middle East culture, and this book fit the bill almost perfectly. Students can gain a broad understanding of culture and then pursue other texts with more detailed explanations.

I have only a few small quibbles that prevent me from giving the full five stars. The author is a bit harsh on other authors of Arab culture. I prefer to see the good things in the works of other scholars and build upon their successes. For example, one of her criticisms is that another popular text overemphasizes the Bedouin traditions. Yet, I can see those idealized traditions still coming through in her summaries. Also, the book could benefit from more maps (my students are surprisingly ignorant of basic geography even after the US troop presence of recent years).

Overall, a very good book at a good price. It is an important part of my Middle East Cultures class, which is aimed at the general student rather than a full time Middle East scholar.

I'm an American Christian woman, and I've been married to an Arab Muslim man for the last four years. This book caused some light bulbs to go off for me. It clarified past events that were puzzling to me.

It's a well written book that clearly hopes to offset the bad press that Arabs have been getting these past few years. However, the author is fair in her assessments of those areas in which the West and the Arab world need to make changes to improve relations and, perhaps, prevent another 9/11. It's an even-tempered discussion.

It includes wonderful summaries of Arab countries, including economic, political, and religious information about each country. A great resource!

Having been to the Middle East twice, I found this book to be a very good general overview of how to try to "understand Arabs." Nydell keeps things pretty basic and hits all of the important points. Also, this book is very up to date with some data coming within the last year. The commentary towards the end paints a rosy picture of Arabic view of America/the West that I am not sure I completely agree with, but in contrast to some other books, at least Nydell has some facts to back up her statements. I highly recommend this book for anyone travelling to the Middle East for the first time or anyone looking to gain some cultural insight into the Arab mindset.

I read the original version of this book and was favorably impressed, but the 4th edition adds so much more material and is so much more timely (after 9/11) that it really needs to be the one you buy. I went to Israel and the West Bank, so this book was useful in understanding the many Palestinians that I met.

A little pushy with the way overdone "it's a religion of peace" stuff, but very informational. I recommend it to anybody planning a trip to the Arab world.

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.

You will find this to be one of the very best overviews of the main values and ideals that westerners find unusual or uncomfortable. This book gives tremendous help to move beyond "this is wrong" towards "this is different."

This book is an excellent text for anyone interested in the Arab culture and way of thinking. Nydell uses her experiences and wisdom as she beautifully and respectfully describes life in the Middle East. Anyone considering business with Arabs or in the Middle East should utilize her artful explanations.

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.

A book that combines scholarship, personal insight, clear and sparkling writing, and human warmth is rare indeed. Margaret Nydell's "Understanding Arabs" is just such a marvel. And this fourth edition serves, as its subtitle promises, as "a guide for modern times", to counterbalance the terror and hatred stemming from the events of September 11, 2001.

Dr. Nydell's familiarity with Arabs is apparent in the unusual insights of an early chapter, "Beliefs and Values". Bullet points emphasize important observations about basic Arab values, religious attitudes, and self-perceptions. Several chapters give the newcomer to an Arab country many useful pointers about suitable behavior in various interpersonal encounters. Chapter 5, "Men and Women", for example, should be required reading for any Westerner likely to mingle socially with Arabs. So should Chapter 6, "Social Formalities and Etiquette".

Chapters on Arab social structure, family, and religion lead to discussions of Islamism. Nydell emphasizes that the terms "Arab" and "Muslim" are not synonymous. Although many Westerners perceive all Arabs as extreme fundamentalists, those who perpetrated the violence of 9/11 account for only a tiny percentage of Muslims (which, unfortunately, is growing, largely because of America's actions in the region). Without dismissing the real dangers, she makes a very good case for "understanding Arabs" as essential to combating terrorism effectively.

A new chapter in this fourth edition discusses Arab and Muslim migrants to Europe and the United States. Of more than three million people of Arab origin in the United States, up to 70 per cent are descendants of early Christian migrants from Lebanon and Syria, while Arabs who arrived after 1960 are mainly Muslims. These migrants and their families intend to make their future in America, and they have a large stake in its safety; they are appalled by terrorist attacks.

This new edition, then, addresses a much broader readership than did earlier ones. And, given the trend of current events, it is more essential than ever to understand Arabs.