St. Bernard
A new must-read from Bernard Lewis.

By John J. Miller & Ramesh Ponnuru
December 17, 2001 1:20 p.m.

here would we be without Bernard Lewis? The 85-year-old Princeton professor is our greatest interpreter of Islam and the Middle East, and his many books — such as The Middle East: A Brief History of the Last 2,000 Years and The Muslim Discovery of Europe — were well worth reading long before September 11. Now they're essential.

They will be joined in January by a new volume, with the timely title What Went Wrong? Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response. NRO has obtained an advance copy of this important book, which will be published by Oxford University Press.

What Went Wrong? is not specifically about September 11, but it does provide a penetrating analysis of the historical forces behind it. In short, Lewis asks how the Muslim world went from being one of the most advanced civilizations on the planet a few centuries ago to one of the most retrograde right now. There are no simple answers to this complex question, but Lewis does believe too many Arab leaders have blamed their plight on external factors.

"'Who did this to us?' is of course a common human response when things are going badly, and there have been indeed many in the Middle East, past and present, who have asked this question," writes Lewis. "The period of French and British paramountcy in much of the Arab world in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries produced a new and more plausible scapegoat — Western imperialism. . . . But the Anglo-French interlude was comparatively brief and ended half a century ago; the change for the worse began long before their arrival and continued unabated after their departure. Inevitably, their role as villains was taken over by the United States, along with other aspects of the leadership of the West. The attempt to transfer the guilt to America has won considerable support, but for similar reasons remains unconvincing. Anglo-French rule and American influence, like the Mongol invasions, were a consequence, not a cause, of the inner weakness of Middle-Eastern states and societies."

Lewis also wrote the cover story for the most recent issue of NR, which should be on newsstands now.

Ran Off
Oklahoma first lady Cathy Keating has dropped out of the race to replace Steve Largent in the House. Conservative state rep. John Sullivan will be the Republican candidate for the seat, which means he will almost certainly be coming to Congress.