What Went Wrong?: West-Middle East Relations

Bernard Lewis asks the question that has been on the minds of many since the events of September 11, but which many in the West dare not say out loud: what has gone wrong with Islam? Lewis makes it clear that this politically incorrect question is not uncommon in the world of Islam itself, and is regularly asked by Arabs, Turks and Muslims.
How could a highly developed culture that absorbed many foreign influences and was an important channel for Western culture lose its superiority and dominance? Lewis examines the rejection of the concept of separation of church and state, and the denial of the equal position of women in Muslim societies.
In this elegant and profound argument, Lewis offers a penetrating view of the historical relationship between the Middle East and Europe, and concludes that the Muslim world will remain a prisoner of its own history as long as the tendency of Islamic regimes to seek scapegoats elsewhere, abroad, and they are unwilling to examine self-critically 'what went wrong'.