"A compelling call for identity and justice." --Anthony Lewis
"Books such as Mr. Said's need to be written and read in the hope that understanding will provide a better chance of survival." --
The New York Times Book Review
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 of twenty-two books which have been translated into 35 languages, including
Orientalism (1978);
The Question of Palestine (1979);
Covering Islam (1980);
The World, the Text, and the Critic (1983);
Culture and Imperialism (1993);
Peace and Its Discontents: Essays on Palestine and the Middle East Peace Process (1996); and
Out of Place: A Memoir (1999). 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.