
Thinking and writing about the past has always been of critical importance to the way that any culture or civilization views itself and its role in the world. In a work which surveys an entire tradition of historical thought and writing across a span of eight hundred years, Tarif Khalidi examines how Arabic-Islamic culture of the pre-modern period viewed the past, how it recorded it, and how it sought to answer the many complex questions associated with the discipline of history. The author combines a chronological and a topical approach to place the tradition within its wider intellectual context, while quotations from historians across the period introduce the English-speaking reader to some of the principal texts of Arabic-Islamic culture.
‘Dr Khalidi is completely in control of his subject and carries the reader along through his splendidly fluent style, despite the occasional complexity of his argumentation.’
Middle East International
‘This is a wide-ranging, excellently written book on a subject of major importance, based on a formidable wealth of knowledge expertly distilled … ’
David Morgan - School of Oriental and African Studies
‘The extent of Khalidi’s reading is daunting, the subtlety and elegance of his exposition enviable. This is a book which is enjoyable as well as informative.’
Source: The Times Literary Supplement
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account.Find out more about saving content to.
To save content items to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below.Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about theKindle Personal Document Service.
Loading metrics...* Views captured on Cambridge Core between #date#. This data will be updated every 24 hours.
Usage data cannot currently be displayed.
This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.
Accessibility compliance for the PDF of this book is currently unknown and may be updated in the future.