The Middle East: A Brief History of the Last 2, 000 Years Paperback – Illustrated, 7 August 1997

Bernard Lewis is a champion of Middle Eastern scholarship. How can I rate him? This is a magnificent book!!!

Great read for students of the Middle Eastern history and society.

This review is only for the quality of book i received. It's a mass market copy, hardly readable.

Bernard Lewis has been writing about the Arabs/Islam/Middle East his entire life and is an accomplished author. His book is translated into many languages. He gives an excellent Historical description of facts and events that happened through a thousand years of fighting between Islam & Christianity. After reading this book one should wonder how the West has recently become so nonchalant in this on going struggle for 1400 years given all the facts that reveals Islam's goal is total conquest and not to integrate. This book is written objectively, but one needs to read between the lines. Maybe Macron should read this book to understand his errors in dealing with immigration.A book to read to understand what we partially know but are unable to truly see it. One must realise that in the past we had good leaders who fought for our civilisation; i.e. Charles Martel, Charlemagne etc. And one should also remember that Spain was occupied for 780 years because they made the mistake of allowing in a few Jihadist; sounds familiar?This book gives you the base to the on going saga that is affecting our Western world today.It also shows how France and England made mistakes in siding with the Ottoman Empire against Russia when they should have allied themselves with Russia.The book covers a lot of ground so be prepared to give yourself the time to read it.

Scritto in inglese da uno dei più esperti e preparati conoscitori della realtà mediorientale e delle problematiche anteriori e successive all'arrivo dell'Islam (the last 2,000 years) è un libro di storia, sintetico, chiaro ed assolutamente documentato. Utile ovviamente l'analisi dei rapporti con l'Occidente e di "what went wrong" (specifico libro in materia, sempre di Bernard Lewis) nella risposta mediorientale all'evoluzione dell'Occidente in ogni settore

No scholar living or dead has written so authoratatively on Islam and the history of the Middle East as Bernard Lewis, and this book is his magnum opus. If you read nothing else by Lewis, then at least read The Middle East.

Comprehensive and relatively short history book. The author's deep understanding of the ME has made this book to highlight key points from different perspectives: social, political and economical. Cross-sections are particularly interesting.

Bernard Lewis is among the top historians of the Middle East. This book is testament not only to the depth and breadth of his knowledge, but also to his craft in writing history. _The Middle East_ is an excellent introduction to the broad themes, conflicts and personalities of the region since the age of Mohammed.Islamic civilization is complex: it involves a number of peoples (Arabs, Persians, Turks, Mongols), competing interpretations of Islam (Sunni, Shi'a, Sufi, Ismai'li) and a number of significant ruling empires (Mameluk, Ottoman, Safavid, Abbysid, Ummayad) that unfold over 1500 years. As Lewis points out, the culture of the Middle East does not have the continuity of China or India - rather, each successive ruling group brought their own unique spin on islam and governance. The brilliance of this book is that it clearly (if briefly) illustrates the relationship and network of ideas and people over time.Certainly there are flaws with such an overview - minutae and details that some would prefer are left out, while others may find fault with the level of specificity given. I believe Lewis does an exemplary job of striking a balance - not only in terms of political history, but also of addressing the economic and social changes and challenges the Middle East encountered over the last millenium. In particular, his discussion of the 19th and 20th centuries was excellent, summarizing the struggle the Islamic world faces as it seeks to embrace and mimic the indsutrialized West while it is simultaneously repelled and humiliated by it. Similarly his treatment of the Arab-Israeli conflict, while brief, covers the most important elements in understanding the points of disagreement.Of the many books on the history of the Middle East, I recommend this as the place to begin for a solid, broad overview of the major events politically, socially and economically. Highly recommended.