The 100 best nonfiction books: No 8 – Orientalism by Edward Said (1978)

By Robert McCrum. Orientalism is a profoundly influential and controversial study of the way in which, for at least 2,000 years, ever since the wars between the ancient Greeks and the Persians, the west has fought with, and largely dominated, the east through a persuasive colonial version of its culture and politics. More...