Through meticulous research, Adeed Dawisha traces Arab nationalism chronologically from its rise to its fall. The book offers a historical description of Arab nationalism as an artificial construct, starting from its origins in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and considering different regions, events, advocates of the ideology such as Sati‘ al-Husri and Jamal ‘Abd al-Nasir, and ending with its total absence from the current struggle in the Arab world. Based on both primary and secondary sources, Dawisha successfully provides one of the most comprehensive studies of Arab nationalism to date. His book combines both political science and historical approaches in order to paint a detailed and nuanced portrait of Arab nationalist ideology.