Orientalism

Orientalism is Edward Said's seminal book describing the ways Western culture has contemptuously portrayed the East in literature, art, media, and other modes. My problem with the book isn’t that it is unpersuasive, but rather that it is too much of a polemic and eschews any attempt at truth or balance. That is in some ways beside the point since it was always intended to be a political document — and by this measure, it succeeded beyond all expectations. But that does not make it a good book.