Dangerous knowledge: orientalism and its discontents

Edition
First
Author
Irwin, Robert
Publisher
Overlook Press
Year
2006
Language
English
Call Number
DS61.85 .I79 2006
ISBN
9781585678358
Reference Only
Off
Number of Pages
410
Library of Congress Subject Heading
Middle East -- Foreign public opinion, Occidental
Library of Congress Subject Heading 2
Middle East -- Study and teaching
Abstract

"What is Orientalism, who were the Orientalists, and how did Western scholars of Islamic culture come to be vilified as insidious agents of European imperialism? In Robert Irwin's groundbreaking new history, he answers this question with a detailed and colorful story of the motley crew of intellectuals and eccentrics who brought an understanding of the Islamic world to the West. In a narrative that ranges from an analysis of Ancient Greek perceptions of the Persians to a portrait of the first Western European translators of Arabic to the contemporary Muslim world's perceptions of the Western study of Islam, Irwin affirms the value of the Orientalists' legacy: not only for the contemporary scholars who have disowned it, but also for anyone committed to fostering the cross-cultural understanding which could bridge the real or imagined gulf between Islamic and Western civilization."--Jacket.