Encompasses twelve centuries of Arab history and culture while including contemporary conflicts and issues.

The making of a world (seventh-tenth century). A new power in an old world ; The formation of an empire ; The formation of a society ; The articulation of Islam -- Arab Muslim societies (eleventh-fifteenth century). The Arab Muslim world ; The countryside ; The life of cities ; Cities and their rulers ; Ways of Islam ; The culture of the 'ulama ; Divergent paths of thought ; The culture of courts and people -- The Ottoman age (sixteenth-eighteenth century). The Ottoman empire ; Ottoman societies ; The changing balance of power in the eighteenth century -- The age of European empires (1800-1939). European power and reforming governments (1800-1860) ; European empires and dominant élites (1860-1914) ; The culture of imperialism and reform ; The climax of European power (1914-1939) ; Changing ways of life and thought (1914-1939) -- The age of nation-states (since 1939). The end of the empires (1939-1962) ; Changing societies (1940s and 1950s) ; National culture (1940s and 1950s) ; The climax of Arabism (1950s and 1960s) ; Arab unity and disunity (since 1967) ; A disturbance of spirits (since 1967) -- Maps -- Genealogies and dynasties.