Lewis is an American historian and two-time winner of the prestigious Pulitzer Prize. Acocella’s review is not bad, but she reveals little evidence that she has read authors such as Robert Spencer, Bat Ye’or or Andrew G. Bostom. She refers to Edward Said’s 1978 book Orientalism, but not Ibn Warraq’s excellent criticism of him in the recent book Defending the West: A Critique of Edward Said’s Orientalism.According to Acocella, “The Muslims came to Europe, he writes, as ‘the forward wave of civilization that was, by comparison with that of its enemies, an organic marvel of coordinated kingdoms, cultures, and technologies in service of a politico-cultural agenda incomparably superior’ to that of the primitive people they encountered there. They did Europe a favor by invading. This is not a new idea, but Lewis takes it further: he clearly regrets that the Arabs did not go on to conquer the rest of Europe.” This was “one of the most significant losses in world history and certainly the most consequential since the fall of the Roman Empire.” for more click here