The Middle East Author:Bernard Lewis In this immensely readable and wide-ranging book Bernard Lewis charts the successive transformations of the Middle East, beginning with the two great empires, the Roman and the Persian; the development of monotheism and the growth of Christianity; the astonishingly rapid rise and spread of Islam; the waves of invaders from the east and the Mongo... more »l hordes of Jengiz Khan, the rise of the Ottoman Turks...« less