Rating: 
Summary: a non muslim defending islam
Review: Just for the readers who don't know, Dr Edward said is not Muslim, he is Christian
So for a Christian guy like Mr. said to defend Islam, and show the truth, about Islam,
Makes me happy and a proud, that I am Palestinian like him. If he was Muslim I probably wouldn't have admired him as much. The fact that he is a Christian defending some he has no gain from, makes him greater.
Rating: 
Summary: Science Fiction For Dupes
Review: My college professor assigned my class this whiney-screed.
As one reviewer said here, you get the whole idea of the book from reading the new introduction. Alas, that same reviewer forgot to mention an interesting fact, that Said in his introduction trumpeted his scorn and contempt for those mighty irresponsible and unfair warnings of terror attacks against the U.S. Kudos for these words of wisdom. For some reason, my professor sternly declared that the World Trade Center attacks make this book EVEN MORE RELEVANT (cue for a Martin Kramer tirade).
A simple exercise: When you see your authority stumbling headlong into the muck, try reevaluating your own perceptions before singing a paean for a feat well done (that means avoiding "Seeing his bedraggled mug reaffirms his dexterity and aptitude" kind of thinking). And on a less merry note, use this book only as a first hand proof that Said's critics are indeed right.
Rating:
Summary: A useful book for the obtainment of objectivity in the media
Review: Prof. Said's book is one that gets through the marrow of hackneyed, obtuse, sterotypical untruths that the media unfortunatelly often places on individuals of Arab decent. His work delves deeply into how pseudo-intellectual Hollywood and the'yellow' media often brand (most of the time) people of Middle East culture as the 'bad guy' or the one who 'must have planted the bomb,' etc... Covering Islam is a great book, not just in its clear-cut shining examples of how people often unconsciencely discriminate, but also in its well researched scholarship. Mr. Said explains and points out the subtleties of what is being taught in schools today, what is on the radio, television and movie screens. His fluid writing style and insights, I believe, will help people to become less subservient to the ideas and opinions expressed by the 'still-learning' media.
Rating:
Summary: An outstanding book
Review: Said exposes the American journalists' laziness and disqualifications to cope up with the developments of the Islamic world and their subsequent readiness to blame the third party for when anything goes wrong. Having lived in the US for sometime now, I am blissfully aware of the pathetic [lack of] knowledge that Americans have of the world current affairs and world history. Said has done an excellent job in proving that this ignorance is not only confined to the masses but also extends to the American journalists. A must read for anyone who wants to know the world outside of the US.
Rating:
Summary: A very honest man!
Review: Said is a very honest man, a very honest christian at that. For a christian to speak out against the media about one of it's most inaccurate views of life (The Muslims)he has to be a very dedicated and God loving person. There are 1.7 billion muslims in the world today, and not all of them are rotten apples as the media portrays them to be. As we know, in any culture, race, or gender, majority suffers for minority and thats how it is.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: Said once again masters the ability to search deep into a subject and without any prejudice can bring insight and understanding to a readers mind. Great Book.
Rating:
Summary: Badly needed
Review: Some reviewers have criticized this book for wanting to cover up racism, misogyny and religious persecution in Muslim countries. This is completely false. Said is challenging the notion that because some Muslims are bad that Islam is inherently bad. One would not say Christianity was inherently bad even though Christian America once had legal slavery, lynching, denied women equal rights, locked Japanese Americans up in concentration camps, and persecuted the Irish, Italians, Mormons, Jews, and Chinese etc. The media does not blame oppression, misogyny, crime, poverty, extremist movements or racism in Peru, Mexico, Russia, Japan, and South Africa etc. on the predominant religion. Media bias is helping to spread negatives stereotypes of all Muslims. For example, after 9/11 a few hundred Palestinians celebrated and it was shown all over the American media. Yet a million Palestinians held 5 minutes of silence in honor of the victims but this got no media coverage. ProOsama protests got huge media coverage, but the tens of thousands of Muslims around the world who held memorials were largely ignored. Muslim leaders and clerics all over the world condemned the attack but got little or no press. The problem is the Cold War is over and the media is looking for another bogeyman. Another problem is that many American journalists don't know any Muslims, so they also write and portray things based on their own stereotypes. For example, if a study came out that 50% of Kuwaiti women are victims of domestic violence, the article would more than likely mention that Kuwait is a Muslim country. Yet if 50% of South African women were victims of domestic violence the predominant religion (Christianity) would not come up in the article. So a connection is made in the mind of the reader between Islam and abuse of women, even though domestic violence occurs regardless of race or religion (25% of American women are victims). I have to admit that I had very negative views of Muslims myself before I met some, and I started to realize that my stereotypes were wrong. Where did my negative stereotypes come from? The media, of course.
Rating:
Summary: A desire to see the western media explain away terror
Review: The author is making a grotesque request of the media. He wants the media to blame the West for Arab and Islamic terrorism. He wants the media to cover up on the persecution that Christians, women, Bahais, and atheists are enduring in the Arab world. If anything, the media downplays and almost never mentions the bigotry and racism that is pervasive in the Arab world. Said is trying to imply that any mention of what happens to women in Saudia Arabia is racist. Is it racist to decry the appartheid of the sexes in Saudi Arabia? Is it racist to denounce the fact that the city of Mecca and the city of Medina are closed to nonMoslems even for a visit, let alone for residence? Is it racist to denounce the laws in Egypt that prohibit Christians to repair toilet seats in a church without permission from the president of Egypt? Is it racist to denounce the Wahabi doctrine which would like to see the Bahai religion banished? Is it racist to dwell into the history of Islam and discover that Mohamed murdered all those who wished to remain pagans and not convert to Islam after he came to power in the Arabian peninsula? Is it racist to denounce an Arab educational system that raises terrorists? Said no longer lives in the Arab world and is living in a hospitable West that allows him to criticize as he wishes, but he would never dare say the truth about being a Christian in the Moslem world.
Rating:
Summary: A book intended to put honest journalism on the defensive
Review: The book attempts to discredit any honest and straightforward revelation of events in the Arab and Moslem world. It unjustly portrays those critical of attitudes of Arab and Moslem governments and societies as having a colonial and prejudiced mentality.
Rating:
Summary: An inconsistent view of how the Media handles Islam
Review: The book is concerned with how Moslem societies are portrayed in the media. It complains that what many journalists write is a product of colonial thinking. It also strongly suggests, which is disturbing, that no Christian or Jew has the right to criticize or even write about the Moslem world. Not even such scholars as Bernad Lewis, or someone like Yael Bat Yeor, who grew up in Egypt, may criticize attitudes in Moslem societies. What is ironic in this view is that many enlightened Moslem authors have been harsher in their handling of taboo subjects than any scholar like Bernard Lewis. Fatima Mernissi, in her book Beyond the Veil, portrays the Prophet Mohammad as a sex addict because he had up to 12 wives at the same time. Naguib Mahfouz, in The Children of Gebalawi, portrayed Mohamad as someone who smokes Hashish, and Nawal Saadawi recently declared that The Hajj or the pilgrimage to Mecca, one of the 5 pillars of Islam, is a paganistic practice. Not to mention Salman Rushdi, who in Satanic verses, portrays the prophet as sexually perverted. What is puzzling, especially to the Moslem reader, is that Said admires negative portrayal of Islam by Moslems. The book seems to promote a curious ethical standard: While Arab Moslems can criticize both the West and Islam freely, non-Moslems, such as Coptic Christians and Bahais who suffer from discrimination and persecution in Moslem societies, should not write what they think about practices and attitudes in the Moslem world.
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