In one of the most successful works with deep and lasting significance, the late Albert Hourani presented the definitive history of the Arab peoples from the seventh century, when the new religion of Islam began to spread from the Arabian Peninsula westwards, up to today. It is an outstanding distillation of a lifetime of study and a unique insight into a perpetually troubled region. The updated edition by Malise Ruthven adds a significant new chapter covering recent events such as September 11, the American invasion of Iraq and its bloody aftermath, the fall of the Mubarak and Ben Ali regimes in Egypt and Tunisia, as well as the incipient civil war in Syria, bringing Hourani's magnificent history up to the present day. Ruthven suggests that while Hourani could not have predicted in detail the massive upheavals that have shaken the Arab world recently, he would not have been entirely surprised, given the enduring kinship networks he describes in his book and the challenges posed to them by a new generation of media-savvy, disaffected youth. In a new biographical foreword, Malise Ruthven shows how Hourani's approaches to Arab history were shaped by his unique background as an English-born Arab Christian with roots in the Levant.