Sublime

The Crisis of Islam

The repeated cycle of mass military invasion, large-scale destruction, transient unity and imperial breakup gave the Islamic world a ‘medieval’ history starkly different from that of Europe or China.

John Darwin • After Tamerlane: The Rise and Fall of Global Empires, 1400-2000

How Civilizations Die: (And Why Islam Is Dying Too)

David Goldman

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What Went Wrong?: Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response

Bernard Lewis

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The Straussian Moment

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Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East (ALA Notable Books for Adults)

Scott Anderson

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cold-blooded need for control.

Michael B. Oren • Ally: My Journey Across the American-Israeli Divide

Such trends compelled me to stand my ground. I worked to expose Said’s Orientalism screed, noting that the first experts on the Middle East came from Germany and Hungary, neither of which ever colonized the region.