Orientalism

This landmark book, first published in 1978, remains one of the most influential books in the Social Sciences, particularly Ethnic Studies and Postcolonialism. Said is best known for describing and critiquing "Orientalism", which he perceived as a constellation of false assumptions underlying Western attitudes toward the East. In Orientalism Said claimed a "subtle and persistent Eurocentric prejudice against Arabo-Islamic peoples and their culture." He argued that a long tradition of false and romanticized images of Asia and the Middle East in Western culture had served as an implicit justification for Europe and the US' colonial and imperial ambitions. Just as fiercely, he denounced the practice of Arab elites who internalized the US and British orientalists' ideas of Arabic culture. Peter Ganim's narration gives the work an elegant and knowledgable voice.

©1978 Edward Said (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

THE work on Orientalism

Will argued with diamond-solid citations and centuries of examples. The quintessential place to start in decolonising your understanding of history.

Timeless classic

Very much worth reading to give important context to the events of today The history has been told through biased Western lens.

Interesting book and narrated beautifully

The careful, steady narration style really made this book more easily digestible for me. This was one of the items on a reading list I made for myself with the goal of pursuing a more well-rounded education as an adult, since I didn’t get a chance to participate in normal schooling as a kid. I found the book itself to be very enlightening, especially when it comes to how American Christians (especially American Messianic Christians) interpret and use disconnected bits and bobs of Judaism and sometimes Islam and Buddhism in their own practices, often disembodying them entirely from their original use and meaning. I understood basically why, but I never grasped how we got here and why it became so acceptable. Now I have a broader perspective on the widely validated and scholarly traditions that have essentially groomed the modern fundamentalist to be willing to dissect and pick through anything “divine” until whatever they’ve acquired from this ritual has become unrecognizable as anything other than what they initially intended to find anyway. It helped me examine attitudes that I have considered normal, or that I’ve lamenting accepted to be just the way things are, and to understand what may have birthed some of these tendencies. The scope of the book is more narrow and specific than I expected just based on the broadness of the title, and the part that I’ve just focused on is only a tiny fraction of that. My mention of this is not a criticism but more of a compliment. I think it would be impossible to cover “everything” thing subject has to offer, and a book that claimed to do so would either leave half of everything out or just never get finished. I think the focused, specific subject matter allowed for a much better reading experience. Overall, I truly enjoyed this book and found it thought provoking in many ways as well as personally relatable both as the Semite and the Westerner reflected in the pages. I am by no means an especially educated or academically gifted person, so I’m sure I missed a lot and I’m aware that I could come across as being the cherry picker I’m referencing in my own review. This is not intentional, I promise. But I did find it edifying in whatever way I was able to absorb as somebody with no background in philosophy, history, sociology, or really anything. It truly felt like Said was able to meet me where I’m at, so to speak. At the end of the day, I’m happy I finally got a chance to read this and I hope to come back to it again in a few years to see if I can deepen my understanding with a second pass.

Narrator

Best narrator ever. His French Arabic and German were perfect. Unless someone else was doing it.

Jin Lee

It was a very difficult book to finish since it covers a vast amounts of history of literature and having small knowledge of it made even harder for me. But, having this audio book helped me finish it.