"The Arabs is an interpretative essay based upon a great deal of reading and research, and like other writings of the author, brilliant and insightful. Rodinson's response to the question Who are the Arabs? traces the career of the Arab people from their first appearance about twenty-nine centuries ago up to the present day. The purpose of the book is to make the reader aware of an undeniable Arab being, of its historic performance and its contemporary situation, on the basis of a scientifically careful but sympathetic study and statement." Back cover.