The Arabs is widely considered one of the essential books for understanding the Middle East and the peoples who live there. David Lamb, who spent years as a correspondent in Cairo, explores the Arabs’ religious, political, and cultural views, noting the differences and key similarities between the many segments of the Arab world. He explains Arab attitudes and actions toward the West, including the growth of terrorism, and situates current events in a larger historical backdrop that goes back more than a thousand years.

Now thoroughly revised and updated, The Arabs takes the story up to 2001. Lamb analyzes the developments that led to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and helps the reader to understand how things got to that point. A veteran journalist, Lamb combines his extensive experience in covering international politics with his deeply informed insider’s knowledge to provide an intimate portrait of the Arab world today. “Intelligent and incisive . . . Mr. Lamb has the first-rate reporter’s tools, and he uses them to relate, with compelling detail, who the Arabs are.” —The New York Times Book Review

“Perhaps the best effort to examine the Middle East using a mixture of anecdote, description, and analysis to bring the region to life.” —Los Angeles Times

“A thoughtful closeup study of the Arab peoples, based on firsthand observation and on knowledge of their history. . . . An excellent piece of writing and persuasion.” —The New Yorker

“Neither pretentious nor polemical . . . A valuable contribution toward knocking down stereotypes.” —The Boston Globe