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Bernard Lewis

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born

May 31, 1916 in London, The United Kingdom

gender

male

genre

Politics, History

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Bernard Lewis, FBA (born May 31, 1916) is a British-American historian, scholar in Oriental studies, and political commentator. He is the Cleveland E. Dodge Professor Emeritus of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. He specializes in the history of Islam and the interaction between Islam and the West, and is especially famous in academic circles for his works on the history of the Ottoman Empire.

Lewis served in the British Army in the Royal Armoured Corps and Intelligence Corps during the Second World War before being seconded to the Foreign Office. After the war, he returned to the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London and was appointed to the new chair in Near and Middle Eastern History.

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Books by Bernard Lewis

Average rating: 3.51 · 3,044 ratings · 387 reviews · 80 distinct works

	What Went Wrong? The Clash Between Islam & Modernity in the Middle East 3.33 avg rating — 868 ratings — published 2001 — 17 editions	My rating:
	The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror 3.59 avg rating — 679 ratings — published 2003 — 15 editions	My rating:
	The Middle East 3.54 avg rating — 451 ratings — published 1995 — 10 editions	My rating:
	The Assassins: A Radical Sect in Islam 3.58 avg rating — 169 ratings — published 1967 — 11 editions	My rating:
	The Arabs in History 3.53 avg rating — 89 ratings — published 1950 — 13 editions	My rating:
	The Multiple Identities of the Middle East 3.61 avg rating — 77 ratings — 4 editions	My rating:
	Islam and the West 3.11 avg rating — 80 ratings — published 1993 — 5 editions	My rating:
	From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting the Middle East 3.64 avg rating — 75 ratings — published 2004 — 7 editions	My rating:
	The Muslim Discovery of Europe 3.48 avg rating — 58 ratings — published 1983 — 10 editions	My rating:
	The Emergence of Modern Turkey 3.63 avg rating — 43 ratings — 3 editions	My rating:

More books by Bernard Lewis…

Series by Bernard Lewis

Exxon Lecture Series (2 books)
by Bernard Lewis

3.32 avg rating — 31 ratings

Centers of Civilization (1 book)
by Bernard Lewis

3.55 avg rating — 20 ratings

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Quotes by Bernard Lewis

“In 1940, we knew who we were, we knew who the enemy was, we knew the dangers and the issues," he told me when I pressed him for a reading of the struggle against Islamic radicalism. "In our island, we knew we would prevail, that the Americans would be drawn into the fight. It is different today. We don't know who we are, we don't know the issues, and we still do not understand the nature of the enemy.”
― Bernard Lewis, What Went Wrong? The Clash Between Islam & Modernity in the Middle East

tags: islam

3 people liked it

“As Osama bin Laden puts it: "In this final phase of the ongoing struggle, the world of the infidels was divided between two superpowers--the United States and the Soviet Union. Now we have defeated and destroyed the more difficult and the more dangerous of the two. Dealing with the pampered and effeminate Americans will be easy.”
― Bernard Lewis, Islam and the West

tags: islam

1 person liked it

“Different groups in the [Middle East] drew two lessons from [return of the shah in Iran] - one, that Americans were willing to use both force and intrigue to install or restore their puppet rulers in Middle Eastern countries; the other, that they were not reliable patrons when these puppets were seriously attacked by their own people, and would simply abandon them. The one evoked hatred, the other contempt - a dangerous combination.

Clearly, something deeper is involved than these specific grievances, numerous and important as they may be, something deeper which turns every disagreement into a problem and makes every problem insoluble. What we confront now is not just a complaint about one or another American policy but rather a rejection and condemnation, at once angry and contemptuous, of all that America is seen to represent in the modern world. (76)”
― Bernard Lewis, The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror

1 person liked it

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Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
The History Book ...: SUPPLEMENTAL - FURTHER READINGS	61	52	Feb 24, 2011 10:07am
The History Book ...: MIDDLE EAST HISTORY	61	180	Jan 25, 2012 05:37pm
Book Nook Cafe: Books set in a particular country	20	78	Mar 12, 2012 09:05am
The History Book ...: * THE CRUSADES - GENERAL DISCUSSION	275	280	May 05, 2012 08:13am
The History Book ...: RECENTLY ACQUIRED BOOKS	374	206	May 19, 2012 11:13am
The History Book ...: * PLEASE INTRODUCE YOURSELF ~	4882	2108	16 hours, 57 min ago

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