• FrontMatter,
• Contents,
• Introduction,
• Note on the English Translation,
• Preface,
• CHAPTER ONE The Rise of History Among the Arabs and Its Development During the First Three Centuries A.H.,
• CHAPTER TWO Origins of the Historical School of Medina: 'Urwa-al-Zuhri,
• CHAPTER THREE The Beginnings of Historical Folklore: Wahb ibn Munabbih,
• CHAPTER FOUR Origins of the Historical School of Iraq: Its Rise and Development Until the Third Century A.H.,
• CHAPTER FIVE Motives for the Writing of History and the Historical Views Embodied in the Works of the First Historians,
• Bibliography of Works Cited,
• Index,

This is the first translation of a classic work (Bahth fi nnsh' at 'ilm al ta' rikh 'inda l-'Arab) by the eminent Arab historian A. A. Duri. Published in Beirut in 1960, Duri's book was the first comprehensive effort to trace the origins and early development of Arab historical writing, and to resolve some extremely complex and still debated questions about the reliability of the Arabic historical sources.
Originally published in 1984.
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