Product Description

The Arab-Israeli conflict in the Middle East has unsettled the world for over half a century. What are the roots of this violence? Is it simply the 'normal' prejudice found through time between neighbouring peoples of different cultural traditions or ethnic origins? Or is hostility toward Israel a unique case of anti-Semitism that goes beyond normal prejudice in ascribing to the Jews a quality of cosmic evil? The thesis of this deep and brilliant history is that, while both kinds of prejudice are involved in the Middle East, the newest prejudice - virulent anti-Semitism - so long a poison in the bloodstreams of Christendom, seems to have entered the body of Islam. To understand how this has happened, a great scholar of the Middle East leads us step by step up through the history of the Semitic peoples and languages.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #679290 in Books
• Published on: 1997-12-08
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

About the Author
Bernard Lewis is Emeritus Professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. Formerly Professor of Middle Eastern History at the School of Oriental & African Studies, London, 1949-74.

Customer Reviews

Enlightening and disturbing
Lewis writes a persuasive and detailed account of the rise of anti-Semitism in the Arab world. He credits its emergence to European influences, charts the collaboration between Arab nationalism and Nazism and the disturbing proliferation of anti-Semitic tracts following 1948. This is a well-written, powerful book which must be read in order to understand why the Middle East conflict has gone on so long.