"What Went Wrong" by Princeton Univ professor Bernard Lewis
3 weeks ago, Business Week did a brief preview of the book
I was commenting on many points offered by BusWk to a friend
next thing the book appears on my desk, a gift
I have completed reading half the book so far
very interesting arguments, one after the other
not real deep, but strong historical basis from documents
Turkey is the central focus of Islam, with Ottoman Empire
so far, I see no weakness in focus on Turks and Ottoman
and no discussion of Saudi Arabia
the failure of the Islamic world is complete
but more on it after I finish, and in no hurry
touches on military, weaponry, competing empires, commerce, trade, social, religious, political, foreign embassy, constitutional versus monarchy, economic, language, church versus state, distrust, arrogance, curiosity, etc
incredible damage done to Islamic world by Portugal, Dutch, English
their command of the open seas flanked Ottomans on a world scale
"Europeans have mastered the musket, but they cower to our sword"
right, where is your sword now, Muhammed ???
so many empires, so little time
French (Napoleon), Austrian, Russian, Persia, British, even the Venetians
only a couple impressions on what might be untouched issues
but difficult to document and drive home the points
more on it later
the biggest theme so far that makes me shake my head is...
every time Islam is challenged, they actively turn backwards
I think Arabs from the 10th Century would be totally embarassed at today's Islamic world
intellectual curiosity seems to have VANISHED
KNOW THINE ENEMY
/ jim |
