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Rating: 
Summary: Paperback version missing maps
Review: I've ordered the paperback version for $35.95 and this version seems to be missing some important pieces.Namely, the maps. Of the 6 maps, only 2 are present, the other 4 are missing. I contacted Amazon.COM and they sent a replacement paperback. It too was missing the same maps. Must I spend an extra $100 to get the Hardcover edition just for 4 freaking maps? I wonder if Amazon's entire lot they received from the publisher is defective in this manner. Amazon needs to do better quality control and check the books they receive to make sure that they aren't missing vital information. That is why I gave it 2 stars. Had it contained all the items in the hardcover edition (which the previous reviews were based), then it would gave gotten 4.5 or 5 stars.
Rating:
Summary: Paperback version missing maps
Review: I've ordered the paperback version for $35.95 and this version seems to be missing some important pieces. Namely, the maps. Of the 6 maps, only 2 are present, the other 4 are missing. I contacted Amazon.COM and they sent a replacement paperback. It too was missing the same maps. Must I spend an extra $100 to get the Hardcover edition just for 4 freaking maps? I wonder if Amazon's entire lot they received from the publisher is defective in this manner. Amazon needs to do better quality control and check the books they receive to make sure that they aren't missing vital information. That is why I gave it 2 stars. Had it contained all the items in the hardcover edition (which the previous reviews were based), then it would gave gotten 4.5 or 5 stars.
Rating: 
Summary: The Seminal Book on the Arab World as it is Today
Review: The Arab Awakening is the seminal work on the formation of the modern Arab States and the betrayals of the Western Powers following WWI that has largely caused the attitudes of the Arabs toward the West that survives to this day. It takes the reader from the beginnings of the new Arab literary and philosophical rennaissance in the late 1800's, through WWI where the Arabs fought on the side of the West against the Ottomans, to the betrayals that immediately followed the Great War: the division of the Ottoman Empire among the Western Powers, the Mandate systems, Sykes-Picot, the Balfour Declaration, just to name a few. For anyone wishing to know the real antecedents to todays Middle East issues, they go back considerably further than the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. This book is a must for any serious Middle East scholar.
Rating:
Summary: The Arab Awakening by George Antonius
Review: This is a priceless reference to the early Arab nationalist movements and the Arab Revolt of 1916-18, as well as to the formation of the borders and governments of the modern Middle East.No other writer witnessed the Arab Revolt and interviewed as many of the primary participants, whether Arab, British, French, Turkish or German, as Antonius did.Few other writers were as well-placed to analyse the British and French Mandates in Palestine, Syria and Iraq, and no one told the Arab side of the story to the West as perceptively and authoritatively.The one area Antonius left in entirely too much obscurity was the abandonment of Sharif Hussein by the British, which allowed the Hejaz to be conquered by the fanatical Saudis.Antonius does criticise Saudi tribalism and fundamentalism and I suppose he can be forgiven for not forseeing the divisive and detrimental role that Saudi dominance of the Hejaz would play in the future of the entire Muslim world. This book will make you long for the days when the strongest political current in the Middle East was Arab nationalism rather than Islamism, and it will make you wonder why the West undertook to destroy the integrity of a movement which was largely of its own inspiration. The appendices are invaluable, presenting to the public for the first time all of the documents concerning the promises made by the British govt to the Hashemites and the Arab nationalists.Once you have read the Damascus Protocol, the Hussein-McMahon letters, the Hogarth letter, the Declaration to the Seven and the rest, you will no longer be in any doubt as to the official nature and specificity of the supposedly mythical and nebulous promises made to the Arabs.
Rating: 
Summary: The classic on Modern Arab History!
Review: This is definitely the classic account of the rise of the Arabic people and the making of the modern Middle East. It covers the critical periods of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, when most of the Arab countries went through radical change from being part of the Ottoman Empire, to being colonized by Western powers, to becoming independent again. Learn about the history of Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Palestine, from an Arab perspective. Though written more than half a century ago, this book is indispensable and offers fundamental insights on Middle East affairs, and is packed full of historical facts that withstood the test of time. A primary advantage of this book is the part about Palestine, which was written before the formation of Israel in 1948 and therefore reflects the intricacy and complexity of that crucial first half of the century from a unique perspective. A Palestinian himself, George Antonius is not afraid to put his thoughts on Palestine in the open, describing his vision for coexistence between the Palestinian and the Jewish people in one democratic and constitutional state. The only weakness I find in this book is the author's tendency to give too much credit to the Hashemites, overplaying their role in forming Arab events at the turn of the century, and underplaying their role in collaborating with th British and the Zionists to the detriment of their Arab brethren. Of course some of those secret deals were not known at his time, but he could have been a less forgiving historian. Still, there still is no comparable text that treats the pre-1940 history of the Arab Middle East in such detail as "The Arab Awakening".
Rating:
Summary: Replacement Copy received and fine
Review: Well,
After notifying the publisher of the missing maps, they rectified the problem. I received a replacement copy from them that was excellent. Thus, my second review now gives the book 5 stars, to offset the 2 I put in previously. With all the maps, the book is an excellent and invaluable resource regarding the Middle East.
Rating:
Summary: Replacement Copy received and fine
Review: Well,
After notifying the publisher of the missing maps, they rectified the problem. I received a replacement copy from them that was excellent. Thus, my second review now gives the book 5 stars, to offset the 2 I put in previously. With all the maps, the book is an excellent and invaluable resource regarding the Middle East.
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