A saying attributed to Emperor Napoleon while in exile is “What a novel my life has been.” Today, an equally fascinating “novel” could be written based on the life of an intellectual emperor, Bernard Lewis, the world’s greatest scholar of the Middle East, past and present, who has just celebrated his 100th birthday. At this moment when deceit and spin have been prominent features of contemporary political activity, the record of Lewis’s pursuit of the truth and his scrupulous analysis of Middle East affairs is especially commendable, and should be honored. Bernard’s life starting with the passion for books and languages he had already displayed during his Jewish childhood in London, to his first publication in 1937, to his last book of reflections of a Middle East historian is one of devotion to his subject and commitment to truth. His writings on the Middle East, brilliant in the classical British tradition of Gibbon, Macaulay, and...(Read Full Article)