Covering Islam: How the Media and Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World, by Edward W. Said (used)

'Edward Said is a brilliant and unique amalgam of scholar, aesthete and political activist...He challenges and stimulates our thinking in every area' – Washington Post Book World

From the Iranian hostage crisis through the Gulf War and the World Trade Center bombing, the West has been haunted by a spectre called 'Islam'. As portrayed by the news media - and by a chorus of government, academic and corporate experts - 'Islam' is synonymous with terrorism and religious hysteria. At the same time, Islamic countries use 'Islam' to justify unrepresentative and often repressive regimes.

In this landmark work, for which he has written a new introduction, one of our foremost public thinkers examines the origins and repercussions of the media's monolithic images of Islam, Combining political commentary with literary criticism, Edward Said reveals the hidden assumptions and distortions of fact that underlie even the most 'objective' coverage of the Islamic world.

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

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