Summary
Title: From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting the Middle East
Author: Bernard Lewis
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195173368
Pro:
• Offers insight into a number of unusual and interesting topics
Con:
• Older essays would have benefited from comments from a current perspective
• Nothing is really addressed to the many criticisms leveled against Lewis
• Text is somewhat dry at times; book probably not appropriate for general readers
Description:
• Collection of essays, speeches, and articles from the past decades
• Addresses past history, current events, and historiography
Book Review
A good place to look for knowledge about the Middle East would be Bernard Lewis, Cleveland E. Dodge of Near Eastern Studies, Emeritus, at Princeton University. Lewis has been studying and writing about the Middle East for more than six decades. He is both one of the most respected and most controversial figures in the subject — few people know as much as he does or have done as much work in the field as he, but many dispute whether that knowledge and research have necessarily led to sufficient understanding.
There is a great deal of food for thought throughout this book — including more than a few thoughts about the role of foods in Arab culture and relations. Other fascinating subjects include linguistics and the role translators have played in Middle Eastern diplomacy, the role of land ownership when it came to power, the nature of propaganda, and so forth.
The more than fifty essays are grouped in three sections: past history, current events, and the nature of historiography itself. There is no real overarching theme which ties all of this together (except for the regional relationship), a fact which may make for less coherent and enjoyable reading at times. As Lewis himself explains, for decades he has collected bits of information in his files, not actually writing about the topics until he had gathered enough.
Here, in addition to some previously published papers and unpublished speeches, are the fruits of those files. This is the main reason for the great diversity of disconnected subjects, though at times one might be forgiven for thinking that Lewis has simply gone through his files to find any and everything that might be usable in order to bring forth one more book. It’s all interesting, but it’s also something of a mixed bag.
And what of the controversies alluded to above?
