I’ve been a bit apprehensive of this book, but already after reading the preface I feel more ready to dig in. The tone is certainly academic, but much less convuluted than I’d thought it would be. I thought Said was a historian, and learning that he is, in fact a professor of literature makes me feel more at home.

In this preface, I loved the focus on context, interconnectedness, humanism, and the importance of honing our capacity for critical thinking in order to overcome the propaganda western society is infused with.

“… critical thought does not submit to state power or to commands to join in the ranks marching against one or another approved enemy. Rather than the manufactured clash of civilizations, we need to concentrate on the slow working together of cultures that overlap, borrow from each other, and live together in far more interesting ways than any abridged or inauthentic mode of understanding can allow. But for that kind of wider perception we need time and patient skeptical inquiry, supported by faith in communities of interpretation that are difficult to sustain in a world demanding instant action and reaction.”

So excited to exercise this kind of patient skeptical inquiry here on Pagebound ❤️