| Summary/Abstract |
Recent appraisals of Bernard Lewis’s career and scholarship have tended to neglect somewhat the research he carried out at London University’s School of Oriental African Studies (SOAS) before his move to Princeton in 1974. This early work resulted in important publications on Isma‘ilism, the Ottoman archives and modern Turkish history, but he also published highly influential books dealing with pre-modern Islamic history and culture. A survey of his early publications reveals certain recurring topics and preoccupations, including Isma‘ilism considered as a political and cultural revolution manqué, the potential dangers of a clash of civilizations, and Muslim responses to the challenges of modernization and Westernization. Lewis’s style and lucidity have contributed greatly to his influence as a historian.
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