One of the early books that fundamentally changed my thinking were by Syrian writers. One of them was the original Arabic version of This review was written 4 years before the appearance of the English translation.
“The West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion (to which few members of other civilizations were converted) but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence. Westerners often forget this fact; non-Westerners never do.” —Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilisation and the Remaking of the World Order, 1996, p. 51