About the book, from the publisher: Through an historical
analysis of the theme of Oriental despotism, Michael Curtis
reveals the complex positive and negative interaction between
Europe and the Orient. The book also criticizes the
misconception that the Orient was the constant victim of Western
imperialism and the view that Westerners cannot comment
objectively on Eastern and Muslim societies. The book views the
European concept of Oriental despotism as based not on arbitrary
prejudicial observation, but rather on perceptions of real
processes and behavior in Eastern systems of government. Curtis
considers how the concept developed and was expressed in the
context of Western political thought and intellectual history,
and of the changing realities in the Middle East and India. The
book includes discussion of the observations of Western
travelers in Muslim countries and analysis of the reflections of
six major thinkers: Montesquieu, Edmund Burke, Tocqueville,
James and John Stuart Mill, Karl Marx, and Max Web