Orientalism

In this landmark study, Edward Said examines how the West has thought and written about the East. He treats Orientalism as a powerful European invention, a means by which writers, philosophers and colonial administrators made sense of the supposed otherness of Eastern cultures, customs and beliefs.

Said follows this way of seeing through the work of authors such as Homer, Nerval, Flaubert, Disraeli and Kipling, whose imaginative portrayals helped build the romantic and exotic image of the Orient that Western readers have long held.

In the preface, he considers how imperialism and racism still shape the world, including in the events leading up to and following 9/11. The book is regarded as a foundational text of cultural studies.