Covering Islam: How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World

Covering Islam: How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World

Author: Edward W. Said
Publisher: Vintage Books
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780679758907
Pages: 288pp
Weight: 211g
Year: 1997
Price: RM99

"Edward Sald is a brilllant and unique amalgam of a scholar, aesthete and polltical activist.... He challenges and stimulates our thinking in every area." - The Washington Post Book World

From the Iranian hostage crisis through the Gulf War and the World Trade Center attacks, America has been haunted by a specter called "Islam." As portrayed by the 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, 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 W. Said reveals the hidden assumptions and distortions of fact that underlie even the most "objective" coverage of the Islamic world. In doing so, Covering Islam continues Said's lifelong investigation of the ways in which language not only describes but also defines political reality.

"Covering Islam should be read by every foreign correspondent and every editor of foreign news.... This is an important book." -Frances FitzGerald, author of Fire in the Lake