Informative and concise rendering of the history of the Arab Nationalist movement. Professor Tibi is Syrian-born and, refreshingly, his book is remarkably free of stereotypical references. Especially recommended to anyone with an interest in the political makeup of the Middle East.

I actually read this book (or main essays therefrom) in German. (The author teaches at the University of Tuebingen in Germany, and I believe publishes in that language) Having grown up in the Middle-East, I found Prof. Tibi's description of both events and realities on the ground to be very faithful to the truth. The very satisfying thing about his writing is his scientific-neutral (with a twist of anthropology, economics as well as just plain common sense) approach. There are countless books out there written by Arab "scholars" and "I've been there and understand it all" western journalists who more often than not just highlight one fact without showing interdependence of economic conditions, sociological stratification and cultural alienation that help explain the mess brought about by the rapid introduction of modernity into a world that heretofore had a limited sense of nationhood, let alone a secular societal organization.

Bassam Tibi has this very rare objectivity due to not having the inferiority complex vis-a-vis the "West" which unfortunately plagues most if not all Arab and Middle-Eastern academia.