What Went Wrong? : The clash between Islam and modernity in the Middle East by Bernard Lewis

Sound a little boring?  Don’t you believe it!  Lewis is one of the world’s foremost Islamic scholars, and his understanding of Islam’s place in the world is monumental.  Here is a history lesson we have somehow not quite understood.  While Europe suffered from barbarism and unbelief during the dark ages, Islam kept civilization moving forward in the fields of art, science, medicine and architecture.  So what happened?  Indeed, what went wrong?   Finding the answers is fascinating stuff, especially in these days of ISIS jihad.  Read Lewis and weep.

Reviewed by Joy Duncan.