A History of the Arab Peoples covers not only political history, but also culture, society, economy and thought, in a work of profound and lasting importance. A distillation of the late Albert Hourani`s lifetime of scholarship, it was a best-seller on first publication in 1991. This edition, updated by Malise Ruthven, includes such recent events as the on-going crisis in Iraq, the civil war in Algeria and the aftermath of September 11th.