How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World (Fully Revised Edition)

Covering Islam

'Edward Said is a brilliant and unique amalgam of scholar, aesthete and political activist... He challenges and stimulates our thinking in every area' Washington Post Book Review

No-one studying the relations between the West and the decolonizing world can ignore Mr. Said's work

Edward Said belongs to that small band of American intellectuals who talk sense (and write beautifully) about the outside world

Edward Said is a brilliant and unique amalgam of scholar, aesthete and political activist... He challenges and stimulates our thinking in every area

Edward Said was born in Jerusalem in 1935. In 1951 he attended a private preparatory high school in Massachusetts, America and he went on to study at Princeton University for his BA and at Yale for his MA and PhD. He became University Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. Said was bestowed with numerous honorary doctorates from universities around the world and twice received Columbia's Trilling Award and the Wellek Prize of the American Comparative Literature Association. He is best known for describing and critiquing 'Orientalism' and his book on the subject was published in 1978. He died in 2003.

From the Iranian hostage crisis through the Gulf War and the World Trade Centre bombing, the West has been haunted by a spectre called 'Islam'. As portrayed by the news media - and by a chorus of government, academic and corporate experts - 'Islam' is synonymous with terrorism and religious hysteria. At the same time, Islamic countries use Islam to justify unrepresentative and often oppressive regimes. 
 
In this landmark work, for which he has written a new introduction, one of our foremost public thinkers examines the origins and repercussions of the media's monolithic images of Islam. Combining political commentary with literary criticism, Edward Said reveals the hidden assumptions and distortions of fact that underlie even the most 'objective' coverage of the Islamic world.

Edward W Said

Culture and Imperialism has an eloquent, urgent topicality rare in books by literary critics

Readers accustomed to the precision and elegance of Edward Said's analytical prowess will not be disappointed by Culture and Imperialism. Those discovering Said for the first time will be profoundly impressed

Edward Said helps us to understand who we are and what we must do if we are to aspire to be moral agents, not servants of power

‘Readers accustomed to the precision and elegance of Edward Said's analytical prowess will not be disappointed . . . Those discovering Said for the first time will be profoundly impressed’ Toni MorrisonFollowing his profoundly influential study Orientalism, Edward W. Said turned his attention to the Western world, tracing the connections between imperialism and European art, literature and music. From Jane Austen to Salman Rushdie, from Yeats to media coverage of the Gulf War, Culture and Imperialism initiates a dialogue between culture and the political and economic fabric of its time. Vast in its scope and stunning in its erudition, this collection of essays remains as urgent today as it was on first publication. 
 
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY THE AUTHOR

Edward W Said

Praise for Culture and Imperialism

Culture and Imperialism has an eloquent, urgent topicality rare in books by literary critics

Readers accustomed to the precision and elegance of Edward Said's analytical prowess will not be disappointed by Culture and Imperialism. Those discovering Said for the first time will be profoundly impressed

Edward Said helps us to understand who we are and what we must do if we are to aspire to be moral agents, not servants of power

Culture and Imperialism has an eloquent, urgent topicality rare in books by literary critics

Readers accustomed to the precision and elegance of Edward Said's analytical prowess will not be disappointed by Culture and Imperialism. Those discovering Said for the first time will be profoundly impressed

Edward Said helps us to understand who we are and what we must do if we are to aspire to be moral agents, not servants of power

Culture and Imperialism has an eloquent, urgent topicality rare in books by literary critics

Readers accustomed to the precision and elegance of Edward Said's analytical prowess will not be disappointed by Culture and Imperialism. Those discovering Said for the first time will be profoundly impressed

Edward Said helps us to understand who we are and what we must do if we are to aspire to be moral agents, not servants of power

Books by Edward W Said

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