Bernard Lewis, FBA (born 31 May 1916) is a British American historian specializing in oriental studies. He is also known as a public intellectual and political commentator. Lewis is the Cleveland E. Dodge Professor Emeritus of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. Lewis’ expertise is in the history of Islam and the interaction between Islam and the West. He is also noted in academic circles for his works on the history of the Ottoman Empire.
Lewis served as a soldier in the British Army in the Royal Armoured Corps and Intelligence Corps during the Second World War before being seconded to the Foreign Office. After the war, he returned to the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London and was appointed to the new chair in Near and Middle Eastern History.
In 2007 and 1999, respectively, Lewis was called “the West’s leading interpreter of the Middle East” and “the most influential postwar historian of Islam and the Middle East.” His advice was frequently sought by neoconservative policymakers, including the Bush administration. Lewis, therefore, is generally regarded as the dean of Middle East scholars. However, his support of the Iraq War and neoconservative ideals have since come under scrutiny.
Lewis is also notable for his public debates with Edward Said, who accused Lewis and other orientalists of misrepresenting Islam and serving the purposes of imperialist domination, to which Lewis responded by defending Orientalism as a facet of humanism and accusing Said of politicizing the subject.
Lewis argues that the deaths of the Armenian Genocide resulted from a struggle between two nationalistic movements and that there is no proof of intent by the Ottoman government to exterminate the Armenian nation. These views prompted a number of scholars to accuse Lewis of genocide denial and resulted in a successful civil lawsuit against him in a French court. Lewis turned 100 in May 2016.
| Bernard Lewis | |
|---|---|
| Born | 31 May 1916 London, England, United Kingdom |
| Academic work | |
| Era | 20th-century philosophy |
| Doctoral students | Heath W. Lowry |
| Main interests | Oriental studies, Western philosophy, Middle Eastern philosophy |
| Notable works |
|
| Influenced | Fouad Ajami |
Source:wikipedia