Explore the vast range of titles available.

This insightful critical biography shows us an Edward Said we did not know. H. Aram Veeser brings forth not the Said of tabloid culture, or Said the remote philosopher, but the actual man, embedded in the politics of the Middle East but soaked in the values of the West and struggling to advance the best European ideas. Veeser shows the organic ties connecting his life, politics, and criticism. Drawing on what he learned over 35 years as Said's student and skeptical admirer, Veeser uses never-before-published interviews, debate transcripts, and photographs to discover a Said who had few inhibitions and loathed conventional routine. He stood for originality, loved unique ideas, wore marvelous clothes, and fought with molten fury. For twenty years he embraced and rejected, at the same time, not only the West, but also literary theory and the PLO. At last, his disgust with business-as-usual politics and criticism marooned him on the sidelines of both. The candid tale of Said's rise from elite academic precincts to the world stage transforms not only our understanding of Said—the man and the myth—but also our perception of how intellectuals can make their way in the world. \"This is a brave book, written with gusto—a student from Edward Said’s early days at Columbia cuts through the myth and puts together the ‘real maestro,’ with respect, sympathy and meticulous attention to detail.\"— Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak , Columbia University \"The most engaging study of Edward Said now available, this book traces Said’s progress from highbrow denizen of the Ivy Leagues to a gritty intellectual on the world stage. It also gives an inside portrait of Said, from a one-time student who knew him for thirty-five years, depicting Said’s habits of mind, charisma, and contradictions. With a seemingly encyclopedic grasp of Said’s work, Veeser also writes with panache, offering his own example of creative criticism .\"— Jeffrey J. Williams, Co-editor of The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism \"At last, a critic has come along with the cunning, candor, and brilliance to pluck out the heart of the mystery of Edward Said. A mesmerizing read—and unlikely to be surpassed .\"— James Shapiro, Columbia University 　 \"The late Edward Said is often pictured as a passionate fighter for radical causes. But in this provocative and eminently readable book, H. Aram Veeser reveals a Said who was far more divided than anyone thought.\"— Gerald Graff , author of Clueless in Academe 　 \"Part biography, part memoir, part analysis and even part critique, Veeser's book is a fitting medium for addressing the life and work of a man whose achievements and aspirations far exceeded what could be contained in any one category or even series of categories. No one who knew Said will doubt the attribution of charisma—and those who didn't will get a good sense of it from this book. \"— David Simpson, University of California, Davis \"Veeser has written an absolutely splendid hybrid of a book: part intellectual biography, part personal reminiscence, part homage, and part scholarly critique. As insouciant in its observations as Edward Said was in his person, Veeser’s book treats Said’s Princetonian polish as a central element of his thought and not simply as elegant haberdashery. Said’s outsized scholarly ambition and rhetorical cleverness are more than matched in Veeser’s pithy account by his unpredictability and penchant for self-contradiction, all of them hallmarks of the charismatic hero who refuses to play by the rules that govern common mortals. We desperately need just this sort of informed, critical, and yet balanced approach to our intellectual stars, rather than the hagiography so often demanded and supplied. Said, oppositional critic to the bitter end, deserves no less.\" —Vincent P. Pecora, University of Utah \"… Vesser (City College of New York) has written a beautifully crafted examination of the legacy of the renowned Palestinian literary critic, who died in 2003.\" – B. A. McGowan, Moraine Valley Community College (CHOICE Feb. 2011) Introduction Chapter I: The Charisma of Edward Said Chapter 2: Beginning Again Chapter 3: Emergence Chapter 4: Academostardom Chapter 5: Secular Criticism Chapter 6: Rhetoric and Image Chapter 7: On Stage Chapter 8: Later Visions Chapter 9: Marquee Intellectual Chapter 10: Political Roughhouse Chapter 11: Dropping the PLO Chapter 12: Said in History H. Aram Veeser is Associate Professor at The City College of New York. He is coauthor of Painting Between the Lines (2001), and editor of The New Historicism (1989), The New Historicism Reader (1994), Confessions of the Critics (1996), and The Stanley Fish Reader (1999). Besides his work as a writer and critic, Veeser pursues outside interests that range from drawing and painting to motorcycling and competitive rowing.

Born of a Palestinian father and British mother, Bill Rezak has always been intrigued by the different worlds his parents came from. His father’s ancestors were highwaymen on the Arabian Peninsula in the eighteenth century. They sparred unsuccessfully with ruling Ottoman Turks and escaped with their family to America. His mother’s parents were sent to Canada from Great Britain into indentured servitude as children separate­ly and alone at the ages of 10 and 16. They worked off their servitude, met, married and moved to New York State. In The Arab and the Brit, a memoir that spans multiple generations and countries, Rezak traces the remarkable lives of his ancestors. Narrating their experiences against the backdrop of two World Wars and an emerging modern Middle East, the author gives readers a textured and vivid immigrant story. Rezak recalls his paternal grandmother apprehending would-be Russian saboteurs during World War One, his grandfather’s time at Dr. Bernardo’s home, a shelter for destitute children, and his father’s work with the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Association following the war. Told with humor and captivating detail, The Arab and the Brit, chronicles the trials and triumphs of one family’s struggle to succeed in the New World.

This is a gripping account of what it is like to live as a Palestinian - as a refugee in your own homeland. Born in Jerusalem, Muna Hamzeh is a journalist who has been writing about Palestinian affairs since 1985. She first worked as a journalist in Washington DC, but moved back to Palestine in 1989 to cover the first Palestine Intifada - the war of stones. She then settled in Dheisheh, near Bethlehem - one of 59 Palestinian refugee camps that are considered the oldest refugee camps in the world. The book consists of a diary which Hamzeh wrote between October 4th and December 4th 2000, telling the story of the second Intifada. Facing the tanks and armed guards of one of the best-equipped armies in the world, the Palestinians have nothing. They fight back with stones. The anguish and terror that Muna and her friends face on daily basis is tangible. Who will be the next to die? Whose house will be the next to burn down? This deeply moving personal account brings to life the harsh realities of the Palestinian struggle. Refugees in Our Own Land is a look into the hearts and minds of Palestinian refugees. It is a tribute to the bravery of the Palestinian people, and a wake-up call to the world that has ignored so much of their struggle and their suffering.

Edward Said (1935-2003) was a towering figure in post-colonial studies and the struggle for justice in his native Palestine, best known for his critique of orientalism in western portrayals of the Middle East. As a public intellectual, activist, and scholar, Said forever changed how we read the world around us and left an indelible mark on subsequent generations. Hamid Dabashi, himself a leading thinker and critical public voice, offers a unique collection of reminiscences, travelogues and essays that document his own close and long-standing scholarly, personal and political relationship with Said. In the process, they place the enduring significance of Edward Said's legacy in an unfolding context and locate his work within the moral imagination and environment of the time.

Edward Said’s life’s work illustrated the very argument for individual agency that became a theoretical focus for him beginning with his classic 1978 study, Orientalism.

American Jews are becoming increasingly aware of the fact that Israel does not share their values, particularly with regard to religious freedom and to judging men and women as individuals, regardless of race, religion or ethnic origin. This is leading to increased alienation from Israel and to a rejection of the idea that it is, somehow, a Jewish \"homeland\" or a repository of Jewish values. The evidence of shifting views is all around us. Consider a few of the many examples of Jewish Americans who once identified with Israel and no longer do so, as well as evidence on a wider scale of growing separation from the Zionist worldview.

Purpose This paper aims to explore, for the first time over a long period of time, the autobiographical memory of Israeli veterans of the 1948 War, pertaining to the 1948 Palestinian exodus that led to the creation of the Palestinian refugee problem. Does this memory include the Zionist narrative (i.e. willing flight of the Palestinian refugees) or a critical narrative (i.e. willing flight and expulsion)? One of the primary sources to influence the collective memory of conflicts is the autobiographical memory. This memory is also one of the primary sources for research of the past. Thus, autobiographical memory is of importance. Design/methodology/approach Methodologically, this is done through an analysis of all 1948 veterans’ memoirs published between 1949 and 2004. Interviews were also conducted with various veterans, to understand the dynamics of their memoir publication. Findings Empirical findings suggest that during the first period (1949-1968), this memory was exclusively Zionist; during the second (1969-1978), it became slightly critical; and during the third (1979-2004), the critical tendency became more prevalent. Onward, the nine empirical causes for the presentation of exodus the way it was presented are discussed. Theoretical findings relate, inter alia, to the importance of micro factors in shaping the autobiographical memory, assembles seven such theoretical factors, suggests that these factors can influence in two ways (promoting collective memory change or inhibiting it), and that their impact can change over time. Originality/value Taken together, the paper contributes empirical and theoretical findings that are based on a solid and wide scope research.

[...]the characterisation of Waheed in Jarrar's A Map of Home is a form of Palestinian counter-narrative. Between 'Diaspora' and 'Refugee' Status Many Palestinian critical thinkers use the concept of 'diaspora' with caution for the simple reason that it promises no return to the historic homeland, Palestine. Since the 1948 'al-Nakba', or catastrophe, which marks the beginning of Palestinian exodus, many Palestinians are still refugees in a number of countries all over the world. To other members of the Palestinian diaspora, the homeland in concrete terms long ago lost its ultimate significance and remains but a symbol to gather around in the land of exile.13 Because of the prolonged conflict, many Palestinian diasporas are today well integrated into the host societies to the point that even a return seems of less importance. [...]territory' and 'land' may for diasporas be more metaphorical and symbolic than 'real'.14 Members of Palestinian diasporas might repeatedly undergo a feeling of homesickness, but they will continue to form life experiences in a homeless condition or create new multiple homes in new settings. Since the early days of the conflict, the Zionists have relied on two main things: (1) that the older generations of Palestine will perish and their memories fade away ;(2) that the new youth will forget their historical links and ancestral roots.