خاورمیانه: دو هزار سال تاریخ از ظهور مسیحیت تا امروز الفارسية 1447

The Middle East is not only the birthplace of three major religions and numerous civilizations, but for many centuries it has also been a center of knowledge and thought, technologies and products, and at times a major military and political hub. In this book, Professor Bernard Lewis, the British Orientalist, examines the successive transformations of the Middle East from two thousand years ago to the present day.

He begins by providing background on the two great empires of Iran and Rome, then goes on to discuss the emergence of monotheism and the growth of Christianity, the rise and expansion of Islam, waves of invaders from the East and the Mongol armies of Genghis Khan, the rise of the Ottoman Turks, and the shifting balance of power between the Islamic world and Christendom. He also analyzes the forces that shaped the Middle East and considers the pervasive influence of Western ideas and technology in the modern era, concluding the book with the Islamic Revolution in Iran.

First published in 1995, the book is divided into five parts and nineteen chapters. The first part, the Introduction, offers a brief overview of the subject and a concise survey of Middle Eastern transformations. The second part examines the Middle East before Christianity and before Islam in two chapters. The third part, dealing with the rise and peak of Islam, comprises chapters three through seven: Foundations, The Abbasid Caliphate, The Invasions of the Nomadic Peoples, After the Mongols, and The Gunpowder Empires.

The fourth part, titled Segments, focuses on several major historical themes in the Middle East and includes chapters eight through thirteen: The State, The Economy, The Elites, The Masses, Religion and Law, and Culture. The final part discusses developments in the modern Middle East, particularly its confrontation with modernity, in the chapters Challenge, Transformation, Response and Reaction, New Ideas, From the First World War to the Second World War, and From Freedom to Freedom (the Middle East from the end of the Second World War to the present).

The book is illustrated with numerous photographs and maps and concludes with the author’s notes, a bibliography, a chronological table of major events, several maps, and an index of names.