Modern Arab Thought: The Impact of the French Revolution on its Political and Social Orientation offers an in-depth reading of the intellectual transformations that the Arab world witnessed with the dawn of the Renaissance, influenced by the winds of freedom that blew from the heart of the Great French Revolution. Author Raif Khoury reveals how the revolution's principles of freedom, equality, and justice illuminated the minds of an elite group of Arab intellectuals, who found in it an intellectual beacon for reforming their countries and establishing a new, more just and humane society. This influence was not a blind imitation, but rather a creative interaction with the Arab and Islamic heritage, and an attempt to combine authenticity and modernity. Through this book, we trace how Arab political and social discourse was shaped in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and the major issues that preoccupied thinkers, including reforming governance, liberating peoples, and building civil society. It is a solid intellectual work that takes the reader back to a pivotal historical moment, when the flame of the French Revolution converged with the dream of the Arab Renaissance, opening a new horizon for modern Arab thought.

رئيف خوري (1913–1967م) كاتب ومفكر لبناني. كتب مقالات فكرية وسياسية وأدبية بارزة. دافع عن العدالة الاجتماعية والقومية العربية. وكان من أبرز المثقفين العرب التقدميين في القرن العشرين.