Bernard
Lewis and Me
This article also appeared in a National
Review Online symposium
celebrating Bernard Lewis.
The historian Bernard Lewis celebrates his 100th birthday
today.Three quotes establish his career. Martin Kramer, a former student of Lewis, sums up his teacher's accomplishments: Bernard Lewis emerged as the most influential postwar historian of Islam and the Middle East. His elegant syntheses made Islamic history accessible to a broad public in Europe and America. In his more specialized studies, he pioneered social and economic history and the use of the vast Ottoman archives. His work on the premodern Muslim world conveyed both its splendid richness and its smug self-satisfaction. His studies in modern history rendered intelligible the inner dialogues of Muslim peoples in their encounter with the values and power of the West. ![]() Lewis' career spanned a monumental 75 years, from his first article ("The Islamic Guilds") in 1937 to his autobiography in 2012. Midway, in 1969, he entered my life. In Israel the summer between my sophomore and junior years in college, with my aspirations to become a mathematician in doubt, I thought of switching to Middle East studies. To sample this new field, I visited Ludwig Mayer's renowned bookstore in Jerusalem and purchased The Arabs in History, Lewis' 1950 book. ![]() That said, he and I argued strenuously during the George W. Bush years, narrowly on Iraq policy (I was more skeptical of U.S. efforts) and broadly on the matter of bringing freedom to the Middle East (ditto). I first met Professor Lewis in 1973 in London, when he generously invited me to his house and offered advice on my Ph.D. studies. I saw him most recently, twice, at his small apartment in the Philadelphia suburbs.
Mr. Pipes (DanielPipes.org, @DanielPipes) is president of the Middle East Forum. © 2016 by Daniel Pipes. All rights reserved.
Related Topics: Daniel Pipes autobiographical,
Middle East studies
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Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Bernard Lewis and Me
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