The title of Bernard Lewis' book, "What Went Wrong: The Clash Between Islam and Modernity in the Middle East," immediately strikes the eye of the reader as potentially, perhaps dangerously judgmental in its nature. The phrase seems to imply that there is something wrong about the nature of Islam, or that something went specifically awry in the development of this religion, as opposed to the other major religious traditions of Judaism and Christianity that came from the Middle Eastern region. Furthermore, the title does not take into consideration the complexity of the Muslim religion, a religion famously divided between two very distinct, polarized sects or branches, that of Shiite and Sunni Islam. The influence of Islam makes itself felt in many regions within the Middle East, and many nations and all have their own unique complexities. Finally, the title also suggests that this 'Islam' is anti-modern in a way that is wrong and problematic, specifically with the nature of the religion, rather than with some of the leaders of nations or groups who might have been Muslim persons and committed wrongdoing.
             A bad or simplistic title does not necessarily mean that the author has written a bad or inaccurate book. But in this case, the title, unfortunately, provides clues as to Lewis' schematic interpretation of Middle Eastern history. Even in early modernity, Lewis does not allow for any possible good things to come from Islam. He begins, not with a discussion of the tenants of the faith in an effort to make them comprehensible in the terms of his Western readership, but with wars and clashes of civilizations. Almost immediately, Lewis details how armies of Islam, really a conglomerate of Islamic nations, not Islam entirely, invaded Europe and Africa, India and China and praises the Crusaders for their victory over Islam's "war department" (p. 12). This makes it seem as if Islam always mandated war as a tenant of the faith, but the Euro...