The Arab Mind

ONE OF THE GREAT LANDMARKS OF CULTURAL STUDIES
First published in 1973, revised in 1983, and now updated with new demographic information about the Arab world, The Arab Mind takes readers on a journey through the societies and peoples of a complex and volatile region. This sensitive study explores the historical origins of Arab nationalism, the distinctive rhetorical style of Arabic speakers and its effect on politics, traditional attitudes toward child-rearing practices, the status of women, the beauty of Arabic literature, and much more.

MORE RELEVANT NOW THAN EVER
Since September 11, the book’s lessons have been misconstrued by some but have proven indispensable to those trying to truly understand the roots of the major political conflicts of our time. Patai’s sympathetic but critical depiction of Arab culture explores the continuing role of the Bedouin values of honor and courage in modern Arab culture, inter-Arab conflict and the aspiration toward unity, and how anti-Western attitudes conflated with anti-modernization have led to stagnation in much of the Arab world.

DRAWS ON A LIFETIME OF EXPERTISE
Patai, a prominent anthropologist and historian, drew on both his research and his personal experience to produce this indispensable work in the field of Middle Eastern studies. With an updated foreword by Norvell B. DeAtkine, former director of Middle East Studies at the JFK Special Warfare School, The Arab Mind remains a relevant and crucial masterpiece of scholarship for anyone seeking to understand this multifaceted culture today.

Raphael Patai was the author of over 600 articles and more than twenty books, including The Jewish Mind, The Seed of Abraham, Jadid al-Islam: The Jewish “New Muslims,” Of Meshhed, and Arab Folktales from Palestine and Israel. A native of Hungary, he began studying Arabic at the age of nineteen. Before coming to the United States, he lived for fifteen years in Palestine. Director of the Syria-Lebanon-Joran Research Project of the Human Relations Area Files of New Haven, Connecticut, he taught at Princeton, Columbia, and the University of Pennsylvania. A prolific cultural anthropologist, historian, and biblical scholar, Dr. Patai died in 1996.

Norvell B. “Tex” De Atkine , Colonel, U.S. Army (Retired) served eight years in Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt (in addition to combat service in Vietnam). A West Pointer, he holds a graduate degree in Arab studies from the American University of Beirut. After teaching for 18 years at the JFK Special Warfare School at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, he is now an independent Middle East consultant.