From Lewis to Karsh
Last week Bernard Lewis turned 90. Lewis has undoubtedly been the foremost expositor of Islam and the Arab world over the past two generations. At The Amrerican Thinker, however, Dr. Andrew Bostom finds a "yawning gap" in his understanding: "Dhimmitude and the doyen."
Given the depth of his knowledge and the length of his career, Professor Lewis's primacy in the field of Middle East studies seems to me inarguable. Perhaps no one person can succeed to his eminent position in the field. On the other hand, perhaps Efraim Karsh can. Karsh's new book is a timely history of "Islamic imperialism" that is the subject of an interesting review/essay by Theodore Dalrymple: "All or nothing."
UPDATE: Dr. Bostom reviews Karsh's book and places it in the context of Karsh's previous work in "The global jihad."
MORE: See also "Islam and the West: A conversation with Bernard Lewis."
