From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting the Middle East

by Bernard Lewis

Book Overview

Bernard Lewis is recognized around the globe as one of the leading authorities on Islam. Hailed as "the world's foremost Islamic scholar" (Wall Street Journal), as "a towering figure among experts on... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195173368
• Release Date: May 2004
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 456 Pages
• Weight: 1.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.8" x 1.8" x 7.0"

Customer Reviews

The more things change

the more they remain the same. This old truism is a succinct description of this collection of essays and articles by Bernard Lewis. The collection spans well over half a century of scholarly work of this doyen of Orientalism and Near Eastern studies. It is a fascinating walk through many facets of the rich history of the Middle East, and if you are new to the subject, as I am, it is probably one of the best starting points to the field. Many articles touch upon the subject that are as relevant today as when Lewis first wrote about them, which in many ways is a bit unsettling. I am always a bit skeptical about the use of ancient feuds and disputes as a justification for modern-day conflicts, but if a certain theme persists more or less unchanged for many centuries, then it would be foolish to ignore it. This book can be an invaluable resource to anyone wishing to cast aside those foolishnesses and better understand what is going on in that part of the world. In the example of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Lewis convincingly shows how it was both ancient and modern, fundamentalist and contemporary. It would not do the full historical justice to treat it just in the light of the fundamentalist rhetoric, nor through a prism of contemporary revolutionary rhetoric. Showing the interplay of those two themes is what Lewis excels at, and this book is replete with similar examples.

Nice collection of published and unpublished work

This latest book of Bernard Lewis is a collection of short stories he has written in the last decades, some very old some new. The stories spans a broad area: history of the middle east, Israel, Jihad, Arab Nationalism, Shi'a, United Nations, Islam phobia and more. I have read his previous three books as well, and I really like the writing style of Bernard Lewis. He sure likes the Arab people he writes about and the cultural legacy they own, but that does not lead him to be uncritical of their society. Also the history in his stories sometimes tries to connect with current affairs. This can lead to interesting stories about the current Jihad suicide bombers and the ancient Assassin order. Or about the Islamic invasions in Europe and the later invasions of imperial Europe. It is also interesting to see what Bernard Lewis has writes long before everybody became interested in the Islamic world (long before 9/11), some are really prophetical... Just as in his previous works Bernard Lewis writes in a friendly, objective and balanced style about history. To compare it with his previous works, it goes further than "What went wrong" and the "Crisis of Islam" and is not as dry as "The Middle East". Most stories are good, but not all, there is some repeating in the stories, but on a whole I enjoyed it very much and gained more insight in the Islamic world.

A synthesis of decades of brilliant work.

I have a couple problems with this book, but I will still give it a rating of 5 stars.My first problem is that it doesn't flow particularly well from one chapter to the next. This is because the book is an anthology of various speeches, op-eds, chapters of other books, lectures, and other work over the years, many previously unpublished. I would have appreciated some more commentary from today's point of view on his work done many decades ago. Because it jumps from year to year, subject to subject, it is hard to digest large portions of it at a time. My recommendation would be to provide even just paragraph-long segues from one chapter to the next explaining why he included each chapter and how it all adds up to the grand point he is making.Second, I let someone borrow it, and she declared it boring and refused to plug away to finish it. I will admit, this book is not exactly for beginners on the Middle East, nor is it for people looking for exciting quasi-history or conspiracy theories. It is not pop-history. It is, rather, a subtle and mostly objective look at the history and contemporary affairs of the Middle East over multiple generations, and in such a collection of work, one can glean bits of why the world is how it is today. But don't expect the book to jump out and slap you in the face, arguing from the point of view of an extreme ideologue. If you can't handle it being dry in some places, this is not the book for you.As far as the good things go, the book is a great way to brush up on Middle Eastern history. I've read some of Lewis' other books, and they are also very good. Some of the other ones flow much better than this one, but this one is the one I would recommend to those who want a more comprehensive yet succinct look at the Middle East, because it does cover so many topics.

The great lifework of one of our civilization's finest minds

As a reader I have known more than one time in my life that very special pleasure of meeting a book, that lifts one spirit and one's mind, seems to put one in another higher realm entirely, and gives a kind of intellectual joy which certainly must be among life's greatest pleasures. Reading and meeting again the mind of Bernard Lewis in "From Babel to Dragomans" is such a pleasure. Collected in this work are essays of one of the great intellectual figures of this past half - century. Arguably the world's foremost authority on the Middle East ( and most especially the Ottoman Empire) Lewis in these essays displays not only a vast learning but a civilized and often quietly humorous writing which continually inform and delight. In the title essay he elucidates the concept of the ` dragoman' or ` meturgaman' the translator and in so doing also helps us better understand the way societies which contained within themselves a rich variety of cultures and languages operated . In his remarkable essay " A Taxonomy of Hatred" he gives perhaps the most skilled argument I have ever seen for valuing and considering ` the other'. And this as he analyzes and explains how the instinctual hatred that seems to come to us naturally as primates is refined into something more elegant and deadly in human civilizations. As one who has been involved in the study of the Islamic world for over sixty years he brings a fine sense of the transformations that world has gone through in his lifetime while balancing this against what seem almost inherent cultural patterns these societies cannot free themselves of . His analysis of the distinct identity Iran and Iranian civilization managed to preserve after the Arab onslaught swept aside the ancient cultures of Egypt, Syria and other Mid- East regions too enables us to understand the life- struggle that society is going through today between a narrow Islamic based fundamentalism and a broader richer conception of life and civilization. The book is divided into three large sections, part one dealing with Past History, part two with what he calls " Current History" and Part Three "About History" In this latter section he makes a defense of the practice and teaching of history. He concludes , "Our education today should be concerned with the development of many cultures, in all their diversity: with the great ideas that inspire them and the texts in which those ideas are enshrined, with the achievements they made possible, and with the common heritage their followers and successors share. "History is the collective memory , the guiding experience of human society, and we all badly need that guidance" In this volume Lewis provides that guidance in a continually inspiring and uplifting way. Who reads this volume will not only read a civilization , but a very great man indeed.

Superb background info for students of the Middle East

Prof. Lewis once again demonstrates his rare talent for explaining one of the most difficult subjects of world history in clear, lucid language reminiscent of a more literary era. The book is filled with insightful essays describing real episodes, thought patterns, attitudes and customs that have prevailed in the Middle East over the past millenium. As a frequent traveler to the region over the past 4 decades, I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to get a clear picture, uncluttered by neo-liberalism, of the politics and practices of the Islamic world.