A definitive volume expanded and updated to do justice to the four decade career of one of the most important cultural and intellectual thinkers of the 21st century

The renowned literary and cultural critic and political thinker Edward Said was one of our era's most provocative and important thinkers. This comprehensive collection of his work, expanded from the earlier Edward Said Reader, now draws from across his entire four-decade career, including his posthumously published books, making it a definitive one-volume source.

The Selected Works includes key sections from all of Said's books, including his groundbreaking Orientalism; his memoir, Out of Place; and his last book, On Late Style. Whether writing of Zionism or Palestinian self-determination, Jane Austen or Yeats, or of music or the media, Said's uncompromising intelligence casts urgent light on every subject he undertakes. The Selected Works is a joy for the general reader and an indispensable resource for scholars in the many fields that his work has influenced and transformed.

Review

A writer who helps us to understand who we are and what we must do if we are to aspire to be moral agents, not servants of power -- Noam Chomsky

What Said stands for - critical intelligence, high art and the preservation of the language - must be at the centre of our lives -- Hanif Kureishi

I was dependent on his voice ... A necessary voice as well as an eloquent and powerful one. Particularly now, it seems critical that he'd weigh in on things, critique things. He's sui generis -- Toni Morrison

Edward Said was an intellectual with a passion for justice, and he allowed nothing to deter him in its pursuit -- Archbishop Desmond Tutu

The great public intellectual in late twentieth century United States of America -- Cornel West

Said challenges and stimulates our thinking in every area ― Washington Post

Beautifully patterned and passionately argued ― New Statesman

Edward Said belongs to that small band of American intellectuals who talk sense (and write beautifully) about the outside world ― Guardian

Stimulating, elegant and pugnacious ― Observer

No-one studying the relations between the West and the decolonizing world can ignore Mr. Said's work ― New York Times Book Review

Said is a brilliant and unique amalgam of scholar, aesthete and political activist, an inspiring role model for a younger generation seeking their cultural identity -- Camille Paglia

Magnificently eloquent, lucid, judicious ― Guardian

Edward Said helps us to understand who we are and what we must do if we are to aspire to be moral agents, not servants of power -- Noam Chomsky

Magisterial -- Terry Eagleton

One of the leading thinkers of the age ― New York Observer

Probably the best-known intellectual in the world -- Tony Judt ― The Nation

About the Author

Edward Said (1935-2003) was one of the founding voices of postcolonial critical theory and the author of Orientalism, one of the most impassioned and influential works in its field. One of the most high profile advocates for Palestinian rights, he was also University Professor English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, USA.