Understanding Arabs: A Guide for Westerners

This guide is designed for Westerners planning to visit, live or work in the Maghreb and the Middle East. The author has great experience of Arab culture and describes the patterns of change that have influenced the Arab world in recent times. She also analyzes basic Arab values religious beliefs and self-perceptions. The opening chapters of the book examine the Arab personality in a cultural context that is comprehensible to non-Arabs, yet not stereotypical.

The author examines friendship patterns, attitudes towards strangers, hospitality, differences in ways of thinking, the value placed upon the expression of emotion, and relationships between men and women. Later chapters deal with broad societal structures, including social classes, the family, religion, language and communication.