Arab Nationalism in the Twentieth Century: From Triumph to Despair

Rating:
Summary: I would NOT recommend it really!
Review: I have read a couple of books on Arab Nationalism and some that are in some way related to Arab nationalism, in particular Aburish's. I find this book so confusing and unintresting. In addition to the weird and confusing diction the author uses, it is a little biased - in my opinion. whether wittingly or unwittingly the author is attacking Arab Nationalism even even in conditions which require that he be otherwise.

In a word, I would not recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: Mr. Seraj, for some warped reason, perceived this book as an attack on arab nationalism, when in fact Dawisha's work reads as a straight history. Dr. Dawisha was simply stating a factual historical truth: "Arab nationalism", an abstract concept at best, rose fitfully, then faltered and died. Why? because it had no historical, cultural, emotive, or even linguistic bases. It was essentially contrived (and I would argue, calqued along the lines of the european language-based nationalisms that labled people based on the languages they spoke.) It sought to impute a certain identity on people who had for centuries thought of themselves as nothing but Muslims, Jews, Assyrians, Chaldaeans, Maronites, Druze, etc.. and nothing else! This is not bias, this is the plain painful truth Mr. Seraj. Be a man, accept it, and move on. Arabs and Arab nationalism are a mere mirage, an abstract concept, and an obsolete ideology (though it is still upheld by a motely senile half-witted academics who keep irresolute dreamers like Mr. Seraj and their warped ideas alive.)