“For centuries, the world of Islam was in the forefront of human achievement — the foremost military and economic power in the world, the leader in the arts and sciences of civilization. Christian Europe was seen as an outer darkness of barbarism and unbelief from which there was nothing to learn or to fear. And then everything changed. The West won victory after victory, first on the battlefield and then in the marketplace.
“In this elegantly written volume, Bernard Lewis, a renowned authority an Islamic affairs, examines the anguished reaction of the Islamic world as it tried to make sense of how it had been overtaken, overshadowed, and dominated by the West. In a fascinating portrait of a culture in turmoil, Lewis shows how the Middle East turned its attention to understanding European weaponry, industry, government, education, and culture. He also describes how some Middle Easterners fastened blame on a series of scapegoats, while others asked not “Who did this to us?” but rather “Where did we go wrong?”
“With a new Afterword that addresses September 11 and its aftermath, What Went Wrong? is an urgent, accessible book that no one who is concerned with contemporary affairs will want to miss.
In a word, the Muslims got so much so wrong for so long that their present savage behavior is simple anger at themselves but they blame their situations on anything but themselves. Based on the way of the world, they will be wiped out or they will change and thereby have a chance to keep on living. The only variable is time. How long will it take for the West and Russia to get this over with? This little book shows the causes and the consequences of the massive mistakes the leaders of the Muslim world made. Not only did they do so much so wrong for so long, at the moment they are still in cultural denial. Instead of making things better for themselves, they are locked into a primitive stubbornness and following the wrong people for the wrong reasons. They can’t win. Bernard Lewis shows many of the battles they fought and lost. Their losing streak is far worse than the Philadelphia Philly’s with the problem that it’s serious and fatal.
The Middle East is burning. From West Africa to Pakistan and beyond the Islamic world is in tatters because they got so much so wrong but until and unless they get the right things figured out they are doomed.
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