From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting the Middle East - Hardcover

Lewis, Bernard

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195173368 ISBN 13: 9780195173369

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2004

Synopsis

Bernard Lewis is recognized around the globe as one of the leading authorities on Islam. Hailed as "the world's foremost Islamic scholar" (Wall Street Journal), as "a towering figure among experts on the culture and religion of the Muslim world" (Baltimore Sun), and as "the doyen of Middle Eastern studies" (New York Times), Lewis is nothing less than a national treasure, a trusted voice that politicians, journalists, historians, and the general public have all turned to for insight into the Middle East.
Now, this revered authority has brought together writings and lectures that he has written over four decades, featuring his reflections on Middle Eastern history and foreign affairs, the Iranian Revolution, the state of Israel, the writing of history, and much more. The essays cover such urgent and compelling topics as "What Saddam Wrought," "Deconstructing Osama and His Evil Appeal," "The Middle East, Westernized Despite Itself," "The Enemies of God," and "Can Islam be Secularized?" The collection ranges from two English originals of articles published before only in foreign languages, to previously unpublished writings, to his highly regarded essays from publications such as Foreign Affairs and The New York Review of Books. With more than fifty pieces in all, plus a new introduction to the book by Lewis, this is a valuable collection for everyone interested in the Middle East.
Here then is a rich repository of wisdom on one of the key areas of the modern world--a wealth of profound reflections on Middle Eastern history, culture, politics, and current events.

About this title

About the Author:

Bernard Lewis is Cleveland E. Dodge Professor of Near Eastern Studies, Emeritus, at Princeton University. His most recent books are The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror and What Went Wrong?, both national bestsellers and the latter a New York Times Notable Book for 2002.

Review:

"Lewis has long been considered the West's leading interpreter of Mideast culture and history, and this collection only solidifies his reputation. His writing is erudite but not dry; he venerates the facts of history while remaining fully alive to their echoes and implications in the present."--National Review

"Historian Lewis has been one of the most prolific modern writers on the Middle East and Islam. Throughout his long career, he has made many of the intricacies of Middle Eastern history and Islamic civilization accessible to a broad audience of informed readers and academics in the West. In this latest book, Lewis offers a panorama of more than 50 previously published writings spanning more than four decades of academic life. Chapters in this volume come from scholarly publications, lectures, popular publications, and newspaper columns. The smorgasbord of topics covered includes medieval Islamic history, European encounters with the people of the Middle East, Pan-Arabism, Islam and the West, Ottoman History, and the contemporary developments in the Middle East and Muslim-Western relations."--Library Journal

"For more than four decades, Lewis has been one of the most respected scholars and prolific writers on the history and politics of the Middle East. In this compilation of more than 50 journal articles and essays, he displays the full range of his eloquence, knowledge, and insight regarding this pivotal and volatile region.... For both scholars and layreaders, the writings of Lewis remain essential."--Booklist

"As this collection of writings and speeches from the last 40 years demonstrates once again, Lewis is probably the world's most erudite scholar of the Middle East. The pieces cover virtually all aspects of the region--from medieval Turkish history to the roots of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and everything in between. Food for thought abounds.... Reflects the thinking of a profound mind."--Publishers Weekly

"The press of world events has transformed Bernard Lewis into the most public sort of intellectual, well into the emeritus phase of his scholarly career. His 2002 study, What Went Wrong?, shed much welcome, if controversial, light on the divergent courses of Islamic and Western civilization at a moment when the question could not be more urgent. Now in a new collection of essays, From Babel to Dragomans, Lewis teases out the implications of his earlier argument in a wide range of settings, from traditional Middle Eastern feasts and rituals to the anti-Western propaganda campaigns of al Qaeda."--Chris Lehmann, The Washington Post

"At his best, Lewis can be witty, playful, and polymathically erudite.... A wonderful piece on 'Middle East Feasts,' published in these pages, gives him full opportunity to show off his astonishing linguistic range."--New York Review of Books

Praise for Bernard Lewis's What Went Wrong?:

15 Weeks on the New York Times Best Seller List

"Remarkably succinct.... A concise study of the Muslim world's responses to the West and of its own long, sad decline.... It offers a long view in the midst of so much short-term and confusing punditry. Lewis has done us all-Muslim and non-Muslim alike-a remarkable service."--The New York Times Book Review

"Inestimable...replete with the exceptional historical insight that one has come to expect from the world's foremost Islamic scholar."--The Wall Street Journal
"A timely and provocative contribution to the current ragin debate about the tensions between the West and the Islamic world."--BusinessWeek
"No scholar of Islam in the Western world has more thoroughly earned the respect of generalists and academics alike than Bernard Lewis."--Baltimore Sun
"Lewis's sharp-edged commentaries on what history means to Muslims...are what make him so much the scholar of the hour."--U. S. News and World Report
"A provocative and suggestive review of Islamic response to ideas and practices of the Christian West.... Lewis has given us a thoughtful treatment of the historical backdrop of the September 11 tragedy."--The Houston Chronicle
"For newcomers to the subject...Bernard Lewis is the man."--Time

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0195173368
• ISBN 13: 9780195173369
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 456