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A Middle East Mosaic

A Middle East Mosaic

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Written by Bernard LewisAuthor Alerts: Random House will alert you to new works by Bernard Lewis

  • Format: Trade Paperback, 496 pages
  • Publisher: Modern Library
  • On Sale: November 13, 2001
  • Price: $20.00
  • ISBN: 978-0-375-75837-9 (0-375-75837-2)
Also available as an eBook.
about this book

In times of war and in peace, from the earliest days of the Roman Empire to our own, Westerners have traveled to the lands of the Middle East, bringing back accounts of their adventures and impressions. But it was never a one-way journey. In this spirited collection of Western views of the Middle East and Middle Eastern views of the West, Bernard Lewis gives us a rich overview of two thousand years of commerce, diplomacy, war and exploration. We hear from Napoleon, St. Augustine, T. E. Lawrence, Karl Marx and Ibn Khaldun. We peer into Queen Elizabeth's business correspondence, strike oil with Freya Stark and follow the footsteps of Mark Twain and Ibn Battuta, the Marco Polo of the East. This book is a delight, a treasury of stories drawn not only from letters, diaries and histories, but also from unpublished archives and previously untranslated accounts.

“A maginificent collection that lays out the history of the Middle East like no other book before it. The sheer wonder of this book cannot be overstated.”—Denver Rocky Mountain News



Table of Contents

Part I: A Bundle of Prejudices
Ancient Prejudices
On National Character: Some Medieval Judgements
Some Western Prejudices

Part II: As Others See Us
In Darkest Europe
The Mysterious Occident
Two Revolutions
The Western Menace

Part III: Migratory Words

Part IV: Travelers
On Travels and Travelers
Looking the Other Way
Quarantine
Western Travelers

Part V: Diplomats
Rules Concerning Diplomats
Reception and Negotiation
Modern Diplomacy

Part VI: Women
Interpreting Scriptures
Middle Eastern Views
European Views
Four Classical Love Poems

Part VII: Government
The Theory and Practice of Government
Crime and Punishment
Aspects of Reform
Imperial Sidelights
Intellectuals and the State
Revolution

Part VIII: War
War and Peace
Terrorists in the Holy Land
The Proper Use of Spies
Ottoman Advances and Retreat
The First World War and the Arab Rising
The Second World War and After
The Poetry of War, and of War Weariness

Part IX: Commerce and Trafficking
Early Islamic Views
Trafficking with the Enemy
Business as Usual
The Slave Trade
The Business of Oil

Part X: Arts and Sciences
Choice of a Profession
Science and Medicine
Music
Arts and Letters
Precursors
Persian Quatrains

Part XI: Food and Drink
Rules
Middle Eastern Views
Western Views
Dining in Turkey
Coffee and Tobacco

Part XII: Wit and Wisdom

Part XIII: Prophecy and Retrospect
Prophecy and Empire
Prophecy and the Holy Land
War and Peace