How Islamism Took Over the Middle East

"What went wrong?" 

Thus asked the distinguished historian Bernard Lewis about the modern Middle East. Once a region of innovation and cutting-edge thought, in the 20th and 21st centuries, much of the Middle East has declined into grievance, instability, and authoritarianism. 

Lewis believed that where the West evolved and innovated, the Middle East's Arab nations rejected modernization, instead doubling down on tradition. As the times advanced, the Arabs were left behind.