The Pen and the Sword is a compilation of a series of conversations that David Barsamian, a noted author and lecturer, had with Edward Said, the late Palestinian professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, public intellectual, human rights advocate, postcolonial theorist, and acclaimed author. The book was initially published in 1994, and a new edition was released in April 2010.

These conversations took place between 1987 and 1994, and are a fascinating, approachable and essential introduction into Said's thoughts on Palestine and the Occupation, Israel, the 1993 Israeli-PLO accord, postcolonialism, and the role of television, the cinema, and works of fiction and nonfiction by authors such as Camus, Conrad, Bernard Lewis and V.S. Naipaul in shaping the view of the West toward Palestinians, Arabs, Muslims, and the inhabitants of occupied countries in Africa and Asia. Said discusses two of his most famous books, Orientalism and Culture and Imperialism, the failure of Yasir Arafat and the PLO leadership to successfully lobby for Palestinian rights beginning in the 1980s, and the misguided mindset and approach of U.S. foreign policy in achieving peace in the Middle East.

For me, this was a superb introduction to Said, and I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the Middle East, Palestine, Israel, and postcolonialism. ( )