Celebrated humanist, teacher, and scholar, Edward W. Said here examines the ever-changing role of the intellectual
today. In these six stunning essays - delivered on the BBC as the prestigious Reith Lectures - Said addresses the
ways in which the intellectual can best serve society in the light of a heavily compromised media and of special
interest groups who are protected at the cost of larger community concerns. Said suggests a recasting of the intellectual's
vision to resist the lures of power, money, and specialization. in these powerful pieces, Said eloquently illustrates
his arguments by drawing on such writers as Antonio Gramsci, Jean-Paul Sartre, Regis Debray, Julien Benda, and
Adorno, and by discussing current events and celebrated figures in the world of science and politics: Robert Oppenheimer,
Henry Kissinger, Dan Quayle, Vietnam, and the Gulf War. Said sees the modern intellectual as an editor, journalist,
academic, or political adviser - in other words, a highly specialized professional - who has moved from a position
of independence to an alliance with powerful institutional organizations. He concludes that it is the exile-immigrant,
the expatriate, and the amateur who must uphold the traditional role of the intellectual as the voice of integrity
and courage, able to speak out against those in power.