About this title: One of the foremost scholars of Middle East history examines how the once dominant Islamic world--with its extraordinary contributions to civilization--yielded, in a few centuries, to a more dominant Europe. Lewis considers the historical and other factors that contributed to the rise of Europe and its effects on the Islamic world.
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Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Date Published: 2003
ISBN-13:9780060516055ISBN:0060516054
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 208 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Date Published: 2003
ISBN-13:9780060516055ISBN:0060516054
Description: Good. A copy that has been read, but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact, and the cover is intact (including dustcover, if applicable). The spine may show signs of wear. Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "from the library of" labels. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Date Published: 2003
ISBN-13:9780060516055ISBN:0060516054
Description: Very Good. Paperback With Wear To The Edges & Corners Of The Cover. Clean Pages. Shows A Light Crease On The Cover. Great Customer Service. We Stand Behind All Of Our Products. read more
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 208 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. trade pb, 20a4, shelf/edge wear to cover read more
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. (A38_11/8)Book is in good condition. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 208 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. read more
Description: Good. 2003-Paperback----Used-Good-Hall Street Books proudly ships from Brooklyn, NY. All orders are processed and shipped within 24 hours, M-F. 100% money back No-Worry guarantee with expedited delivery and delivery confirmation available. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Date Published: 2003-01
ISBN-13:9780060516055ISBN:0060516054
Description: Very Good. Binding is tight and square. No creases in cover or spine. Text is clean and bright. No names, no remainder marks, no stickers. Light edge and corner wear. Careful packaging and fast shipping. We recommend PRIORITY MAIL for even faster delivery! read more
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Highlighting/underlining. Clean solid tight book with clean near white pages. Highlighting and marginalia throughout. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 208 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. read more
"I had high hopes for this book. It should have been this crazy comprehensive book, highlighting all of these aspects you'd never though of (like a Jared Diamond book). I learned a few things, but the book was short, unambitious, and not that enlightening"
"I hope Lewis is not "the West's greatest. . .interpreter of the Near East" since he apparently believes that what went wrong with the Arabs is essentially what you might call poor protoplasm. Not unbiased historical interpretation."
"This is a capsule history of Islamic civilization in the Middle East from about 1500 to the present, with an emphasis on how from the late 1600s it fell further and further behind the West in wealth, culture, and military might. Lewis puts the blame on a myopic and inward-turning culture that took hold in the region. When European universities established chairs of Arabic and Persian, no European language was studied in the Ottoman or Persian realms. Europeans travelled often to the East and wrote popular books about their travels, but Muslims traveled to Christian lands only when absolutely necessary, returned as soon as possible, and wrote little. Western literature was totally ignored. Western history was almost totally ignored. Western science and technology aroused little interest until military defeats made their need obvious. Even such everyday devices as clocks and printing presses were not widely adopted until the 19th century, long after they were widespread in the West.
Lewis dismisses the argument that Islam itself is incompatible with an advanced and curious culture. He stresses that Islamic civilization led the world in the Middle Ages and eagerly sought after and preserved the knowldge of antiquity. He also has little patience with those who blame the imperialists, the British, the Jews, or the Americans. He notes that the decline started long before they arrived, that in fact the decline made such interlopers possible, and that whenever such interlopers left things only got worse.
The book is full of wonderful tidbits. Did you know that when the British Empire was working to abolish the trade in black slaves from Africa to Ottoman lands, at the same time there was a trade in white slaves from the Caucasus that the British totally ignored?
Lewis does go too far at times. He says the Caliphate must have already been weak in the 13th century to be conquered by the Mongols, but the Mongols also conquered China, so I'd say they were pretty much irresistable. But on the whole, he seems to be fair-minded and to base his judgments on broad scholarly knowledge of the historical evidence."
"For a book that was reviewed by some as being "For newcomers to the subject" (of the dynamics between the Middle East and the West), I was disappointed at how inaccessible many of the chapters were, especially for such a captivating subject. That said, the book was mercifully short and a few of the chapters, usually about culture or science, were quite accessible and revealing."
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