The Arab Mind

New York: Hatherleigh Press, 2002. Revised Edition. 9th printing. Trade paperback. Very good. 466 pages. Includes a new foreword by Norvell B. De Atkine, Preface to the 1983 Edition, Preface to the 1976 Edition; Preface: On a Personal Note; and A Note on Transliteration. Chapters include The Arabs and the World; The Group Aspects of the Mind; Arab Child-Rearing Practices; Under the Spell of Language; the Bedouin Substratum of the Arab Personality; Bedouin Values; The Bedouin Ethos and Modern Arab Society; The Realm of Sex; The Islamic Component of the Arab Personality; Extremes and Emotions, Fantasy and Reality; Art, Music, and Literature; Bilingualism, Marginality, and Ambivalence; Unity and Conflict; Conflict Resolution and "Conferentiasis"; The Question of Arab Stagnation; The Psychology of Westernization; Postcript: The Last Ten Years. Also includes Conclusion, Postcript: The Last Ten Years; Tables, Appendix 1 on The Judgment of Historians; Appendix 2 on The Arab World and Spanish America; Notes, and Index. One of the great classics of cultural studies, the Arab Mind is a journey of observation through the society of a complex and volatile region. The political and cultural entanglements of the Middle East affect the entire world every day. Although Arab culture often seems incomprehensible to the Western world, Raphael Patai's sensitive study unlocks the mysteries of Arab society to help us understand an ancient people. This book was first published in 1973, and was revised in 1983. Raphael Patai (November 22, 1910 July 20, 1996), born Ervin Gy�rgy Patai, was a Hungarian-Jewish ethnographer, historian, Orientalist and anthropologist. Raphael Patai studied at rabbinical seminaries in and at the University of Budapest and the University of Breslau, from which he received a doctorate in Semitic languages and Oriental history. He moved to Palestine in 1933, where he received the first doctorate awarded by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in 1936. During the late 1930s and early 1940s Patai taught at the Hebrew University and served as the secretary of the Haifa Technion. He founded the Palestine Institute of Folklore and Ethnology in 1944, serving as its director of research for four years. He also served as scientific director of a Jewish folklore studies program for the Beit Ha'Am public cultural program in Jerusalem. In 1947 Patai went to New York with a fellowship from the Viking Fund for Anthropological Research; he also studied the Jews of Mexico. Patai settled in the United States, becoming a naturalized citizen in 1952. He held visiting professorships at a number of the country's most prestigious colleges, including Columbia, the University of Pennsylvania, New York University, Princeton, and Ohio State. He held full professorships of anthropology at Dropsie College from 1948 to 1957 and at Fairleigh Dickinson University. In 1952 he was asked by the United Nations to direct a research project on Syria, Lebanon and Jordan for the Human Relations Area Files. Patai's work was wide-ranging but focused primarily on the cultural development of the ancient Hebrews and Israelites, on Jewish history and culture, and on the anthropology of the Middle East generally. He was the author of hundreds of scholarly articles and several dozen books, including three autobiographical volumes. The Arab Mind is a non-fiction cultural psychology book by Israeli Orientalist Raphael Patai, who also wrote The Jewish Mind. The book advocates a tribal-group-survival explanation for the driving factors behind Arab culture. It was first published in 1973, and later revised in 1983. The book came to public attention in 2004, after investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, writing for The New Yorker revealed that the book was "the bible of the neocons on Arab behavior" to the effect that it was the source of the idea held by the US military officials responsible for the torture and abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib scandal that "Arabs are particularly vulnerable to sexual humiliation". Along with prefaces, a conclusion, and a postscript, the book contains 16 chapters, including Arab child-rearing practices, three chapters on Bedouin influences and values, Arab language, Arab art, sexual honor/repression, freedom/hospitality/outlets, Islam's impact, unity and conflict and conflict resolution, and Westernization. A four-page comparison to Spanish America is made in Appendix II. The classic study of Arab culture and society is now more relevant than ever. Since its original publication in 1983, the revised edition of Raphael Patai's The Arab Mind has been recognized as one of the seminal works in the field of Middle Eastern studies. This penetrating analysis unlocks the mysteries of Arab society to help us better understand a complex, proud and ancient culture. The Arab Mind discusses the upbringing of a typical Arab boy or girl, the intense concern with honor and courage, the Arabs' tendency toward extremes of behavior, and their ambivalent attitudes toward the West. This book unravels the complexities of Arab traditions and provides authentic revelations of Arab mind and character.