Middle East by Bernard Lewis

As the cradle of three major religions and the birthplace of countless civilizations, the Middle East has long been a hub of knowledge, ideas, trade, and power dynamics. Historian Bernard Lewis’s cogent and scholarly writing offers a comprehensive understanding of the region’s cultures to a wider audience, particularly amidst its ongoing significance in modern politics.

In his highly accessible and expansive history, Lewis traces the series of transformative periods in the Middle East’s past. It all begins with the clash between two dominant empires over two thousand years ago: the Roman and the Persian. From there, he explores the emergence of monotheism and the growth of Christianity, followed by the meteoric rise and territorial expansion of Islam across vast lands.

Delving deeper, Lewis chronicles the cascading waves of Eastern invaders and the devastating Mongol onslaught led by Jengiz Khan. He sheds light on the ascendancy of the Ottoman Turks in Anatolia, the Mamluks in Egypt, and the Safavids in Iran, along with the eventual decline of the mighty Ottoman Empire. Additionally, he examines the shifting power dynamics between the Muslim and Christian worlds.

Within this comprehensive narrative, Lewis insightful reveals the multitude of factors that have sculpted the Middle East’s history. This includes the influence of the Islamic religion and its legal system, the diverse traditions of governance, a vibrant trade network encompassing a wide array of commodities, and the complex social structures that encompassed military, commercial, religious, intellectual, artistic elites, as well as socially marginalized groups such as slaves, women, and non-believers.

The final threads of Lewis’s narrative are interwoven through an exploration of the profound impact of Western ideas and technology on the Middle East, as well as the responses and reactions they elicited. In modern times, this influence has been extensive, revealing both the significant contributions of Islamic civilization to European life and the reciprocal contributions of the European world to the Islamic sphere.

With a wealth of knowledge and attention to detail, Lewis’s brilliant survey of the Middle East’s history and civilizations sheds light on the rich tapestry of the region. It underscores the immense Islamic influence on European society, as well as the reciprocal contributions that the Islamic world has made to the global stage.