Overall, this was an enjoyable and engaging book. Middle-Eastern history is fascinating and new to me. I have started reading Bernard Lewis because I found him all over Samuel Huntington. Chapters 4 and 5 on secularism and civil society are illuminating and the two best chapters. However, I had many quibbles and problems with the book.

Lewis did not deal with the Middle East or Islam as monolithic since he divided it into Turkish, Arabic, and Iranian, but the book lacked nuance and detail in that regard. Any time there was a distinction, it was between the Turks and Persians. Not focusing on Saudi Arabia or Wahhabism seems like a major flaw to me. He mentioned a Shia and Sunni conflict once; a topic that certainly deserves more merit and discussion than a sentence, as it has penetrated Islamic conflict for fourteen centuries. I also thought that he assumed far more knowledge on the part of the reader than he should have. I am disappointed at how short the book is. Only 150 pages to explain how Muslim countries and people fell behind Europe and the West? The topics he covers are interesting and the explanations are provoking (especially in the aforementioned chapters), but there has to be a better book on the subject. Still, I am going to read more of his books.