Bernard Lewis (31 May 1916 – 19 May 2018) was a British-American historian and Princeton professor emeritus, widely regarded as the most influential Western scholar of Islam and the Middle East in the 20th century. Born in Stoke Newington, London, to a middle-class Jewish family, he developed an early interest in history and languages. He attended the City of London School and Wesley College before studying at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, where he earned a B.A. in history in 1936 and a Ph.D. in the history of Islam in 1939; his doctoral thesis was published as "Origins of Isma'ilism" in 1940. His early career included service in the British Army's Royal Armoured Corps during World War II and work at the Foreign Office analyzing Middle Eastern intelligence. After the war, he returned to SOAS as assistant lecturer in 1938 and became professor of the history of the Near and Middle East in 1949, holding the position until 1974. He then joined Princeton University as the Cleveland E. Dodge Professor of Near Eastern Studies until his retirement in 1986. Lewis authored over two dozen influential books, including "The Arabs in History" (1950), "The Middle East and the West" (1964), and "What Went Wrong?" (2002), which critically examined Islamic decline and argued for Western involvement. Fluent in Arabic, Turkish, Persian, French, and other languages, he conducted extensive archival research. As a public intellectual, Lewis profoundly shaped U.S. neoconservative foreign policy, serving as an influential intellectual voice supporting the 2003 Iraq invasion, advising key figures such as Paul Wolfowitz, and testifying before Congress. His views on Islam, the Middle East, and the "clash of civilizations" elicited both praise and sharp criticism, with opponents accusing him of orientalism, Islamophobia, and historical inaccuracies. He became a U.S. citizen in 1982 and was honored with numerous awards, including fellowship in the British Academy (FBA).