Bernard Lewis

Angry Arab takes apart Bernard Lewis as an authority on the modern Middle East. I've never read Lewis's Ottoman stuff, though The Jews of Islam is worth reading, and doesn't say what you might expect about the roots of modern Arab anti-Semitism. My views on his contemporary commentary, however are seen in posts like this one. I've also commented on the reasons for his influence, the reasons for his decline in academic influence, and a point on which other historians should learn from him.

As an aside, however, can I just point out that if both Lewis and Juan Cole think partitioning Iraq is a really bad idea, it probably is, in fact, a really bad idea?