Considering the communicative and symbolic roles of language in articulating national identity, Yasir Suleiman provides a fresh perspective on nationalism in the Middle East. The links between language and nationalism are delineated and he demonstrates how this has been articulated over the past two centuries.

"This compelling and timely study of Arabic culture, language, history, and nationalism by distinguished Arabic linguist Yasir Suleiman, allows English-speaking audiences an inside view of key issues in understanding the Arab world. Based on Suleiman's extensive research in Arabic language and society, the book is scholarly but not pedantic, and will appeal to a wide range of readers." -- Karin C. Ryding, professor emerita, Department of Arabic Language, Literature and Linguistics, Georgetown University "A major work... [it] combine[s] detailed knowledge of the language, the underlying philosophy, political trends through the 20th century, and also literary production...will constitute a basic text in all departments where the Arabic language and its associated literature are studied." -- Tim Niblock, professor of Middle Eastern Studies and director, Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter "Masterfully combine[s] his profound familiarity with the Arabic literature, the endless literature on nationalist ideology, and the very substantial sociolinguistic literature on language and ethnic identity." -- Joshua A. Fishman, Distinguished University Research Professor of Social Sciences, Emeritus, Yeshiva University and visiting professor of linguistics and education, Stanford University and New York University "Performs a very useful service in its careful assembling, summarizing, and linking together a lot of rather obscure material, much of it in Arabic...a very useful addition to courses on Arab nationalism, nationalism in general, and Arabic linguistics." -- Clive Holes, professor for the Study of the Contemporary Arab World, University of Oxford