Information AboutBernard Lewis |
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Bernard Lewis (born May 31 , 1916 ) is the Cleveland E. Dodge Professor of Near Eastern Studies Emeritus at Princeton University . He specializes in the History Of Islam and the interaction between Islam and the West . He is one of the most widely read western scholars of the Middle East. BACKGROUND Born to middle-class Jew ish parents in London, Lewis graduated from the School Of Oriental And African Studies (SOAS), University Of London , performed post-graduate studies at the University Of Paris , returned in 1938 to the University of London as an assistant lecturer in Islamic History , once again at SOAS. :In 1938 the University of London offered me a position as an assistant lecturer in Islamic History. The first class I taught in 1938 consisted of four students, three Arabs and an Iranian. I remember my father asking me in wonderment at the time why the University of London would pay me a salary to teach Arab history to Arabs. Many others have asked more or less the same question, in a variety of forms. Some also asked why Arab students would come to England to study their own history, and were given—by both the students and their teachers—a variety of answers. For whatever reasons, they continued to come, and for the rest of my teaching career in England a varying number of my undergraduate students and a steady majority of my graduate students were Arabs from Arab countries. During the Second World War Lewis served in the British Army in the Royal Armoured Corps and Intelligence Corps , before being seconded to the Foreign Office . After the war he returned to SOAS and taught there until 1974, when he accepted a position at Princeton University, becoming an Emeritus Professor there upon his retirement in 1986. He has been a naturalized citizen of the United States since 1982. In the wake of the September 11, 2001 Attacks , interest in Lewis's work surged, especially his 1990 essay ''The Roots of Muslim Rage''. Lewis is also known for his literary sparrings with the late Professor Edward Said of Columbia University , who made criticisms of Orientalist scholarship (of which he claimed Lewis's work was a prime example) in his 1978 book, ''Orientalism''. Bernard Lewis studied and is well versed in numerous classical languages that include Latin , Greek , Biblical Hebrew , Aramaic , Classical Arabic , Persian and Turkish . Bernard Lewis, a prolific writer, has authored over twenty books and numerous articles. Among his more recent books are two that were published after 9/11: '' What Went Wrong? '' (written before the attacks) and '' The Crisis Of Islam ''. He married Ruth Hélène Oppenhejm in 1947 with whom he had a daughter and a son before the marriage was dissolved in 1974. PARTIAL LISTING OF HIS BOOKS
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EXTERNAL LINKS Remarks by Vice President Cheney at the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia Luncheon Honoring Professor Bernard Lewis
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