Bruce Maddy-Weitzman is a professor in the Department of Middle Eastern & African History, and senior research fellow at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, Tel Aviv University.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroductionPart One: The Emergence of Arab Nationalism: One Nation, Many StatesChapter One: Arab Nationalism: Modest Beginnings. Chapter Two: World War I and its aftermath: The Arab Revolt and Unrealized ExpectationsChapter Three: State-Building and Nation-Building in Adverse CircumstancesChapter Four: The Dynastic Era – Upheaval, Revolution and Transition (1945-54)Chapter Five: The Radical Heyday (1955-67)Part Two: From Order to Disorder: The Triumph and Decline of Arab States Chapter Six: After the June 1967 Debacle: Picking Up the Pieces (1967-70)Chapter Seven: Diminished Leadership: Egypt and the Arab Order in the Sadat-Mubarak Era (1970-2010)Chapter Eight: Failed Aspirations, Failed State: Iraq Under Saddam, and Beyond (1968-2010)Chapter Nine: Syria Under the Asad Dynasty: From Weak State to Aspiring Regional Power (1970-2010)Chapter Ten: Symbol vs. Substance: The Palestinian Movement in the Arab Firmament Since 1967Chapter Eleven: The Arab Spring: Disorder and Disintegration Concluding Observations

Maddy-Weitzman seeks to synthesize the complex history of the contemporary Arab Middle East, focusing on Arab identity and Arab nationalism. Using mostly English-language sources, the author argues that Arab identity evolved out of ‘Arabism,’ or Arabs’ consciousness of being distinct from the Ottomans ruling them, before being articulated into a more structured vision of a fractured nation under the dominion of Western powers that needed to reassemble its fragments into an independent union. The constantly thwarted ‘dream’ of unity is seen as the bedrock of ‘Arab’ politics, the book's object. Wars with Israel loom large, as each defeat pointed to the hollowness of the assumed unity project. The emphasis on ‘Arab’ nationalism as an explanatory concept obscures the role played by imperialism (referred to neutrally as ‘domination’), either in the ‘weakness’ of Arab states the author notes, or Western powers’ apparent fear of Arab unity. The book's tone is restrained, the style is clear, and where details are given, some sections are informative.

Bruce Maddy-Weitzman is a professor in the Department of Middle Eastern & African History, and senior research fellow at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, Tel Aviv University.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroductionPart One: The Emergence of Arab Nationalism: One Nation, Many StatesChapter One: Arab Nationalism: Modest Beginnings. Chapter Two: World War I and its aftermath: The Arab Revolt and Unrealized ExpectationsChapter Three: State-Building and Nation-Building in Adverse CircumstancesChapter Four: The Dynastic Era – Upheaval, Revolution and Transition (1945-54)Chapter Five: The Radical Heyday (1955-67)Part Two: From Order to Disorder: The Triumph and Decline of Arab States Chapter Six: After the June 1967 Debacle: Picking Up the Pieces (1967-70)Chapter Seven: Diminished Leadership: Egypt and the Arab Order in the Sadat-Mubarak Era (1970-2010)Chapter Eight: Failed Aspirations, Failed State: Iraq Under Saddam, and Beyond (1968-2010)Chapter Nine: Syria Under the Asad Dynasty: From Weak State to Aspiring Regional Power (1970-2010)Chapter Ten: Symbol vs. Substance: The Palestinian Movement in the Arab Firmament Since 1967Chapter Eleven: The Arab Spring: Disorder and Disintegration Concluding Observations

Maddy-Weitzman seeks to synthesize the complex history of the contemporary Arab Middle East, focusing on Arab identity and Arab nationalism. Using mostly English-language sources, the author argues that Arab identity evolved out of ‘Arabism,’ or Arabs’ consciousness of being distinct from the Ottomans ruling them, before being articulated into a more structured vision of a fractured nation under the dominion of Western powers that needed to reassemble its fragments into an independent union. The constantly thwarted ‘dream’ of unity is seen as the bedrock of ‘Arab’ politics, the book's object. Wars with Israel loom large, as each defeat pointed to the hollowness of the assumed unity project. The emphasis on ‘Arab’ nationalism as an explanatory concept obscures the role played by imperialism (referred to neutrally as ‘domination’), either in the ‘weakness’ of Arab states the author notes, or Western powers’ apparent fear of Arab unity. The book's tone is restrained, the style is clear, and where details are given, some sections are informative.

Bruce Maddy-Weitzman is a professor in the Department of Middle Eastern & African History, and senior research fellow at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, Tel Aviv University.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroductionPart One: The Emergence of Arab Nationalism: One Nation, Many StatesChapter One: Arab Nationalism: Modest Beginnings. Chapter Two: World War I and its aftermath: The Arab Revolt and Unrealized ExpectationsChapter Three: State-Building and Nation-Building in Adverse CircumstancesChapter Four: The Dynastic Era – Upheaval, Revolution and Transition (1945-54)Chapter Five: The Radical Heyday (1955-67)Part Two: From Order to Disorder: The Triumph and Decline of Arab States Chapter Six: After the June 1967 Debacle: Picking Up the Pieces (1967-70)Chapter Seven: Diminished Leadership: Egypt and the Arab Order in the Sadat-Mubarak Era (1970-2010)Chapter Eight: Failed Aspirations, Failed State: Iraq Under Saddam, and Beyond (1968-2010)Chapter Nine: Syria Under the Asad Dynasty: From Weak State to Aspiring Regional Power (1970-2010)Chapter Ten: Symbol vs. Substance: The Palestinian Movement in the Arab Firmament Since 1967Chapter Eleven: The Arab Spring: Disorder and Disintegration Concluding Observations

Maddy-Weitzman seeks to synthesize the complex history of the contemporary Arab Middle East, focusing on Arab identity and Arab nationalism. Using mostly English-language sources, the author argues that Arab identity evolved out of ‘Arabism,’ or Arabs’ consciousness of being distinct from the Ottomans ruling them, before being articulated into a more structured vision of a fractured nation under the dominion of Western powers that needed to reassemble its fragments into an independent union. The constantly thwarted ‘dream’ of unity is seen as the bedrock of ‘Arab’ politics, the book's object. Wars with Israel loom large, as each defeat pointed to the hollowness of the assumed unity project. The emphasis on ‘Arab’ nationalism as an explanatory concept obscures the role played by imperialism (referred to neutrally as ‘domination’), either in the ‘weakness’ of Arab states the author notes, or Western powers’ apparent fear of Arab unity. The book's tone is restrained, the style is clear, and where details are given, some sections are informative.