Notes on a Century : Reflections of a Middle East Historian

by Lewis, Bernard; Churchill, Buntzie Ellis

• ISBN13: 9780670023530
• ISBN10: 0670023531
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-05-10
• Publisher: Viking Adult

Summary

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of What Went Wrong? tells the story of his extraordinary life After September 11, Americans who had never given much thought to the Middle East turned to Bernard Lewis for an explanation, catapulting What Went Wrong? and later Crisis of Islam to become number one bestsellers. He was the first to warn of a coming "clash of civilizations," a term he coined in 1957, and has led an amazing life, as much a political actor as a scholar of the Middle East. In this witty memoir he reflects on the events that have transformed the region since World War II, up through the Arab Spring. A pathbreaking scholar with command of a dozen languages, Lewis has advised American presidents and dined with politicians from the shah of Iran to the pope. Over the years, he had tea at Buckingham Palace, befriended Golda Meir, and briefed politicians from Ted Kennedy to Dick Cheney. No stranger to controversy, he pulls no punches in his blunt criticism of those who see him as the intellectual progenitor of the Iraq war. Like America's other great historian-statesmen Arthur Schlesinger and Henry Kissinger, he is a figure of towering intellect and a world-class raconteur, which makes Notes on a Century essential reading for anyone who cares about the fate of the Middle East.

Author Biography

Bernard Lewis is the Cleveland E. Dodge Professor of Near Eastern Studies Emeritus at Princeton University, the author of many books, and is internationally recognized as the greatest historian of the Middle East.

Buntzie Ellis Churchill served for twenty-three years as president of the World Affairs Council of Philadephia and for a decade hosted the daily radio show World Views.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction	p. 3
Early Days	p. 7
The War Years	p. 50
In the Ottoman Archives	p. 80
Cultural Diplomacy	p. 105
Why Study History?	p. 136
Episodes in an Academic Life	p. 151
Crossing the Atlantic	p. 172
The Neighborhood	p. 197
The Clash of Civilizations	p. 228
Orientalism and the Cult of Right Thinking	p. 266
Judgment in Paris	p. 286
Writing and Rewriting History	p. 298
Politics and the Iraq War	p. 324
In Sum	p. 348
The Dirge	p. 351
Honors and Publications	p. 355
Index	p. 373
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