Product Description

Providing an overview of western attitudes towards the East, this book sets out to challenge established western views of the Orient and of the Arab and Islamic world.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #346188 in Books
• Published on: 1995-02-23
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 396 pages

Customer Reviews

An utterly outstanding book that demands reading
Few works are more deserving of the 'Modern Classic' label that Penguin has given this book. Perhaps it is only after nearly twenty year since its first publication that we are able to appreciate the prophetic and uniquely influential nature of Said's insights into the roots of the 'West's' antagonism towards the 'Orient'. For what is, in effect, little more than a book of literary criticism, the ramifications for all areas of scholarly research and investigation are remarkable. On a personal level it is a book that has profoundly affected both my political and academic outlook and forced a re-evaluation of my attitudes (and not just towards the Middle-East) and, more significantly, the underlying deceits or conspiracies of history on which they are founded. I urge every person in a position of power to study this canonical work. That it is hard reading does not detract from but adds to the power of the work; at every moment Said's intimidating (but inspiringly humanistic and humane) scholarship is in evidence and one can only marvel at his analytical dexterity. Those who see the book as repetative and hypocritically reductive have failed to grasp the true substance which is in the criticism and not primarily in the conclusions which are, for the most part, self-evident, as Said himself declares from the outset.
There will, I am sure, continue be numerous wilful misreadings of 'Orientalism' and that it continues to provoke such controversy is a testament to its brilliance. Ignore them and read it.

A classic text, should be studied by all serious scholars
This is an academic work, not for everyone's interests ortastes. But still it is a revolutionary look at how Western scholarship "invented" the Orient from its own political and psychological needs to create a dehumanized "Other". Few books explain so well the intellectual origins of popular and academic stereotypes of the Middle East. Few books explain so well the failure of Western academics to accurately study other cultures in a useful way conducive to mutual understanding.

The other side of anti-Semitism
The phenomenon Edward Said describes in his book is the anti-Arab and anti-Muslim traditions in society and literature. "Orientalism" is a term that describes a "discourse", a school of thought. And like anti-Semtism, which was one part of Orientalist prejudice in the 19th century, the discourse of anti-Muslim anti-Arab prejudice has a long and powerful history. Regrettably it infects leading scholars of the Middle East like Bernard Lewis. Said deserves credit for putting it all together. Although he is a harsh critic of Western imperialism and Israeli and American power in the Middle East, he hardly manifests racism towards any group.