Books by Tim Mackintosh-Smith
Tim Mackintosh-Smith is an Arabist, traveller, writer and lecturer. He studied at Oxford University and lives in San’a, the Yemeni capital. He is one of the foremost scholars of 14th-century Moroccan traveller, Ibn Battutah, and in 2011 was named by Newsweek as one of the finest twelve travel writers of the last hundred years.
Arabs: A 3,000 Year History of Peoples, Tribes and Empires
by Tim Mackintosh-Smith
"Anyone hoping to understand, let alone write about the Middle East, will need to read and inhale this profound, witty and scholarly achievement." —Barnaby Rogerson, author of The Last Crusaders.
“Yemen is, historically, an extremely literary country. It has a remarkable scholarly culture, brought out in the book.” Read more...
Bernard Haykel, Historian
“Mackintosh-Smith follows Ibn Battutah’s journey, retracing his steps from Morocco to Egypt, Syria to Oman, and Anatolia to Constantinople. He sails in a dhow across the Arabian Sea and travels to Delhi, then on to the Maldives and the fabled Adam’s Peak in Sri Lanka. He describes his own experiences beautifully but also provides us with extracts from Ibn Battutah. The result: you see India from the 14th-century perspective of Ibn Battutah’s adventures overlaid with an account of an emerging 21st-century superpower. Brilliant juxtaposition.” Read more...
The best books on Travel in the Muslim World
Ziauddin Sardar, Theologians & Historians of Religion
Interviews with Tim Mackintosh-Smith
Books about Travelling in the Muslim World, recommended by Tim Mackintosh-Smith
Author and Arabist Tim Mackintosh-Smith tells us about the rich tradition in Islam of travelling to gain knowledge, and directs us towards some of those, both Western and Arab, who’ve inspired with their tales of life on the road.
Interviews where books by Tim Mackintosh-Smith were recommended
The best books on Travel in the Muslim World, recommended by Ziauddin Sardar
The Professor of Postcolonial Studies at City University, London, talks to us about Islamic travel books. Explains how travel should be both a physical and a mental exercise focussed on immersing oneself in local culture
The best books on Yemen, recommended by Bernard Haykel
Yemen is a stunningly beautiful country with a rich cultural heritage but its recent history has been marred by internal conflicts, outside interference and poor governance. Bernard Haykel, a professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University, recommends books that bring to life Yemen’s traditional culture and give insight into what makes the country tick.
