Daniel Martin Varisco

This is probably the best book to read after reading Edward Said's Orientalism. Perhaps they should be sold as a set. Orientalism generated an enormous body of critical literature; Varnisco has read more than 600 pieces and presents them here in a carefully documented, highly readable survey. He seems to have striven to be even-handed and fair; for example he both praises and criticizes Bernard Lewis. Since he has a detailed bibliography and notes, it serves equally well as a one-volume overview and as an entrée to all the literature.

Varnisco's notes pose the one difficulty in the book: they are very definitely worth reading as one goes, but with so many, it is hard to choose: continue reading the text or flip back and forth?

Varnisco's writing is marvelous. The introductory material is a little stiff and heavy on the academese, but after that it flows. He pulls together many direct quotations from his enormous variety of sources with grace and produces a highly readable text. In addition, he is very witty, and makes loving use of his language. He often includes well-chosen puns that enrich his text by producing alternative readings, both of which are correct. Examples include the subtitle, The Said and the Unsaid and on page 272: "The volume in question in which the offending article by Lewis appears is poor evidence for Said's dis[cuss]ing of Orientalism-as-usual", or the chapter heading Defin[ess]ing Orientalism. It is a pleasure to read an author who plays so skillfully with language.… (mere)