by Edward W. Said
Vintage Books
10/4/1979, paperback
SKU: 9780394740676
A groundbreaking critique of the West's historical, cultural, and political perceptions of the East that is--three decades after its first publication--one of the most important books written about our divided world.
In this wide-ranging, intellectually vigorous study, Said traces the origins of "orientalism" to the centuries-long period during which Europe dominated the Middle and Near East and, from its position of power, defined "the orient" simply as "other than" the occident. This entrenched view continues to dominate western ideas and, because it does not allow the East to represent itself, prevents true understanding.
Reviews:
"Powerful and disturbing... The theme is the way in which intellectual traditions are created and transmitted." -- The New York Review of Books
"Stimulating, elegant yet pugnacious... Said observes the West observing the Arabs, and he does not like what he finds." -- The Observer
About the Author:
Edward W. Said was born in 1935 in Jerusalem, raised in Jerusalem and Cairo, and educated in the United States, where he attended Princeton (B.A. 1957) and Harvard (M.A. 1960; Ph.D. 1964). In 1963, he began teaching at Columbia University, where he was University Professor of English and Comparative Literature. He died in 2003 in New York City.
He is the author and editor of over twenty-two books which have been translated into 35 languages, including Orientalism; The Question of Palestine; Covering Islam; The World, the Text, and the Critic; Culture and Imperialism; Peace and Its Discontents: Essays on Palestine and the Middle East Peace Process; Out of Place: A Memoir; and Blaming the Victims: Spurious Scholarship and the Palestinian Question. Besides his academic work, he wrote a twice-monthly column for Al-Hayat and Al-Ahram; was a regular contributor to newspapers in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East; and was the music critic for The Nation.