Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: The Muslim Discovery of Europe by Bernard Lewis ISBN: 0-393-32165-7 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: October, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.5 (12 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Silky-smooth classic by a master
Comment: "The Muslim Discovery of Europe" is a must-read for anyone interested in Middle Eastern history, especially the period between 1500 and 1900. Bernard Lewis writes in a silky-smooth, easy-to-read style, yet the book is erudite and not "Middle Eastern history for dummies".
Lewis explores how the "medieval iron curtain" between Christendom and Islam gradually broke down (to the extent that it did) between the Crusades and the middle of the 19th century, underscoring the Muslim world's changing views of Europe. From Islam's early days up through the Ottoman zenith in the 16th century, Islamic civilization was unquestionably more brilliant than its European counterpart. So Muslims didn't find much reason to be interested in the West. While Europe's Roman forbears might be worth a glance, the average Middle Easterner's image of a European before 1800 was the one (perhaps mythic) symbolized by the filthy Austrian soldiers who, in a 17th-century assault on Budapest (then an Ottoman city), turned an immaculate Turkish bath-house into a horse stable and then washed themselves in their animals' urine. With some justification, Muslim scholars reasoned that Europe had no important ideas and no important literature: the most noteworthy European writer of the Middle Ages, after all, was St. Thomas Aquinas, whose books obviously didn't have anything interesting to say to Muslims. Consequently, for centuries, educated Muslims thought it was a waste of time to learn about Europe. As late as the 18th century, Ottoman officialdom was still referring to Europeans -- in government documents -- with nifty little derogatory jingles like "Ingiliz dinsiz" (Englishman without religion), "Fransiz jansiz" (soulless Frenchman), and "Engurus menhus" (inauspicious Hungarian), not to mention the standard and official use of the term "infidel" (kafr). In a way, though, their ignorance is surprising only in hindsight.
By 1800, all this had changed. Napoleon's Egyptian campaign (1798) initiated a new wave of European imperialism that over the 19th century, and for the first time since the Crusades, would establish Europeans in positions of direct or indirect power in significant parts of the Middle East. Muslims saw up-close how far Europeans had left them in the lurch: militarily, scientifically, politically, and economically. Rulers recognized that "modernizing" (that is, Europeanizing) their societies was imperative if they were going to prevent foreigners from eventually taking over (some did anyway). The 20th-century implications of these changes were huge: the struggle between tradition and Westernization was (and is) one of the keynotes of modern Middle East history.
Lewis ventures far beyond wars and politics and addresses every aspect of the subject: in fact, politics figures into very little of the book directly. Chapter 3, for example, is entirely about language and translation, examining what Muslims thought and knew about European languages and literature on the eve of their "discovery" of Europe. Other chapters explore what Muslims who traveled to Europe thought about this formerly bizarre and exotic destination and the impact made on Muslims by Europeans who traveled in the Middle East. There are also sections on the economy, the reception of European culture, religion, the military, etc.
Again, Lewis' style is extremely fluid and this is a book that everybody can enjoy.
Rating: 4
Summary: Dense But Well Written
Comment: This is not an easy read, but Professor Bernard Lewis is a skilled writer. The book is divided into various disciplines; culture, science, language, government, etc., and spans approximately 1000 years of contact between the Muslim east (Persia, Ottoman Turkey, Arabia, Mughal India) and the European west.
It is not written chronologically, as other reviewers have commented, but this didn't bother me, personally. Prof. Lewis gives real insight into a variety of Islamic views of the west. I could not ignore that for the majority of the 1000 years covered, there was just as much intolerance and arrogance exhibited by Muslims as there was by Westerners. I was hoping to find a few more positive sketches of the historical contact between east and west.
Prof. Lewis writes with skill and an authoriatative voice, and I saw no reason to believe that his conclusions were false or misleading. Many of the numerous sources he uses are amazing as well. A great book that offers a fresh view of Western history and Westerners, as well as Muslim history. It is also difficult to not apply what is read here to the current world situation. A great book.
Rating: 3
Summary: a bit overwhelming
Comment: Bernard Lewis has put together a great deal of information relating to the Muslim World and its relations to the Europe but there seems to be so much information placed into one book it can be difficult to figure out what exactly Lewis is trying to say in this particular book. The chapters are good because they deal with suth topics as the Muslim View of the World, Science and Technology and Cultural Life. He does provide some pretty detailed analysis of the relationship between the Muslim World and Europe but it seems like the book could have been split up into two or three seperate book in which he could have focused on particular areas of the topics in the Muslim Discovery of Europe.
 |
Title: What Went Wrong? : The Clash Between Islam and Modernity in the Middle East by Bernard Lewis ISBN: 0060516054 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 07 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
 |
Title: The Middle East by Bernard Lewis ISBN: 0684832801 Publisher: Scribner Pub. Date: August, 1997 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
 |
Title: Islam and the West by Bernard Lewis ISBN: 0195090616 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: October, 1994 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
 |
Title: The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror by Bernard Lewis ISBN: 0679642811 Publisher: Modern Library Pub. Date: 25 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
 |
Title: Cultures in Conflict: Christians, Muslims, and Jews in the Age of Discovery by Bernard Lewis ISBN: 0195102835 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: January, 1996 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
