"In this immensely readable and wide-ranging book Bernard Lewis charts the successive transformations of the Middle East, beginning with the two great empires, the Roman and Persian; the development of monotheism and the growth of Cristianity; the astonishingly rapid rise and spread of Islam; the waves of invaders from the east and the Mongol hordes of Jengiz Khan; the rise of the Ottoman Turks, and the changing balance of power between the Muslim and Christian worlds. As well as describing the forces which shaped the history of the Middle East, Bernard Lewish looks and the prevasive impact, in modern times, of Western ideas and technology" --

The author examines in detail the issues most critical to the region's future. He describes oil as the current, most important export to the outside world from the Middle East but warns that technology will eventually make it obsolete, leaving those who depend solely on oil revenues with a bleak future. The three factors that could most help transform the Middle East, according to Lewis, are Turkey, Israel, and women. He also argues that there is enough in the traditional culture of Islam on the one hand and the modern experience of the Muslim peoples on the other to provide the basis for an advance toward freedom in the true sense of that word and to achieve the social, cultural, and scientific changes necessary to bring the Middle East into line with the developed countries of both West and East.