In a work which surveys an entire tradition of historical thought and writing across a span of 800 years, Tarif Khalidi examines how Arabic-Islamic culture of the pre-modern period viewed the past, how it recorded it, and how it sought to answer the fundamental questions asssociated with the discipline of history. 'The extent of Khalidi's reading is daunting, the subtlety and elgance of his exposition enviable. This is a book which is enjoyable as well as informative', Gerald Hawting, Times Literary Supplement