The uprisings that transformed the Middle East beginning in 2011 have left experts scrambling to understand where the region is likely to go in years to come. But missing from most of the analysis is a longer view of the evolution of Arab Public opinion and identity and how this is likely to influence this fast-changing region. In The World Through Arab Eyes, Shibley Telhami shows how the roots of these rebellions stretch back decades and explains how they will continue to affect the stability of the Middle East in the years to come. Telhami draws on a decade's worth of polling data and analysis to provide a comprehensive look at this evolution of Arab identity and opinion. The demand for dignity, which was foremost in the chants of millions of Arab demonstrators, went far beyond being a struggle for “food” and individual rights. Telhami identifies the key prisms through which Arabs view issues ranging from democracy and religion to foreign actors, including the United States, European and Asian countries, Iran, Turkey, and, centrally, Israel. These prisms provide a key to interpreting the past, comprehending the seismic changes in Arab politics today, and engaging with the region in the future.

European and Arab versions of the Crusades have little in common. For Arabs, the twelfth and thirteenth centuries were years of strenuous efforts to repel a brutal and destructive invasion by barbarian hordes. Under Saladin, an unstoppable Muslim army inspired by prophets and poets finally succeeded in destroying the most powerful Crusader kingdoms. The memory of this greatest and most enduring victory ever won by a non-European society against the West still lives in the minds of millions of Arabs today. Amin Maalouf has sifted through the works of a score of contemporary Arab chroniclers of the Crusades, eyewitnesses and often participants in the events. He retells their stories in their own vivacious style, giving us a vivid portrait of a society rent by internal conflicts and shaken by a traumatic encounter with an alien culture. He retraces two critical centuries of Middle Eastern history, and offers fascinating insights into some of the forces that shape Arab and Islamic consciousness today. 'Well-researched and highly readable.' Guardian 'A useful and important analysis adding much to existing western histories ... worth recommending to George Bush.' London Review of Books 'Maalouf tells an inspiring story ... very readable ... warmly recommended.' Times Literary Supplement 'A wide readership should enjoy this vivid narrative of stirring events.' The Bookseller 'Very well done indeed ... Should be put in the hands of anyone who asks what lies behind the Middle East's present conflicts.' Middle East International

Introduction: Mediterranean Captivities -- Qiṣaṣ al-Asrā, or Stories of the Captives -- Letters -- Divine Intervention: Christian and Islamic -- Conversion and Resistance -- Ransom and Return -- Captivity of Books -- Epilogue: Esclaves turcs in Sculpture -- Postscript: How Should the Sculptures Be Treated?

The orchestrator of an annual opinion poll in the Arab world describes the profound changes taking place, including recent protests and the toppling of autocrats, and discusses how the people of the region feel about these drastic shifts. 15,000 first printing.

A vibrant collection of writings about America from its earliest Arab immigrants, as they reflected on and described the United States for the very first time.

The author has combed the works of contemporary Arab chronicles of the Crusades, eyewitnesses and often participants. He retells their story and offers insights into the historical forces that shape Arab and Islamic consciousness today.

"The first Arab immigrants to New York or Alaska or San Francisco were 'small' men and women, preoccupied with eking a living at the same time as confronting the challenges of settling in a new country. They had to come to terms with new race communities such as Indians, Chinese and Blacks, the changing role of women, and the Americanisation of their identity. Their writings about these experiences--from travellers and emigrants, rich and poor, men and women--took the form of travelogues and newspaper essays, daily diaries and adventure narratives, autobiographies and histories, full-length books published in the Ottoman Press in Lebanon and journal articles in Arabic newspapers printed in Philadelphia, Boston, and New York. Together they show the transnational perspective of immigrants as they reflected on and described the United States for the very first time"--Back cover.