title: From Babel to Dragomans
text: # From Babel to Dragomans
  
  From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting the Middle East is a 2004 book written by Middle-East historian Bernard Lewis. The book comprises a series of scholarly essays and speeches given by Lewis over a period of four decades on the topic of the Middle East and the Islamic world.
  
  ## Contents
  
      Chapter 1 : An Islamic mosque
      Chapter 2 : From Babel to Dragomans
      Chapter 3 : Middle East feasts
      Chapter 4 : Iran in history
      Chapter 5 : Palimpsests of Jewish history : Christian, Muslim and secular diaspora
      Chapter 6 : Some notes on land, money and power in medieval Islam
      Chapter 7 : An interpretation of Fatimid history
      Chapter 8 : Propaganda in the pre-modern Middle East : a preliminary classification
      Chapter 9 : Monarchy in the Middle East
      Chapter 10 : Religion and murder in the Middle East
      Chapter 11 : The Mughals and the Ottomans
      Chapter 12 : Europe and the Turks : the civilization of the Ottoman empire
      Chapter 13 : Europe and Islam : Muslim perceptions and experience
      Chapter 14 : Cold war and detente in the sixteenth century
      Chapter 15 : From pilgrims to tourists : a survey of Middle Eastern travel
      Chapter 16 : The British mandate for Palestine in historical perspective
      Chapter 17 : Pan-Arabism
      Chapter 18 : The emergence of modern Israel
      Chapter 19 : Orientalist notes on the Soviet-United Arab Republic Treaty of 27 May 1971
      Chapter 20 : A taxonomy of group hatred
      Chapter 21 : Islam and the West
      Chapter 22 : The Middle East, westernized despite itself
      Chapter 23 : The Middle East in world affairs
      Chapter 24 : Friends and enemies : reflections after a war
      Chapter 25 : Return to Cairo
      Chapter 26 : Middle East at prayer
      Chapter 27 : At the United Nations
      Chapter 28 : The anti-Zionist resolution
      Chapter 29 : Right and left in Lebanon
      Chapter 30 : The Shi'a
      Chapter 31 : Islamic revolution
      Chapter 32 : The enemies of God
      Chapter 33 : The roots of Muslim rage
      Chapter 34 : The other Middle East problems
      Chapter 35 : Did you say "American imperialism"? : power, weakness, and choices in the Middle East
      Chapter 36 : The law of Islam
      Chapter 37 : Not everybody hates Saddam
      Chapter 38 : Mideast states : pawns no longer in imperial games
      Chapter 39 : What Saddam wrought
      Chapter 40 : The "sick man" of today coughs closer to home
      Chapter 41 : Revisiting the paradox of modern Turkey
      Chapter 42 : We must be clear
      Chapter 43 : Deconstructing Osama and his evil appeal
      Chapter 44 : Targeted by a history of hatred
      Chapter 45 : A time for toppling
      Chapter 46 : In defense of history
      Chapter 47 : First-person narrative in the Middle East
      Chapter 48 : Reflections on Islamic historiography
      Chapter 49 : The Ottoman archives : a source for European history
      Chapter 50 : History writing and national revival in Turkey
      Chapter 51 : On occidentalism and orientalism
  