In his final book, completed just before his death, Edward W. Said offers impassioned pleas for the beleaguered Palestinian cause from one of its most eloquent spokesmen. These essays, which originally appeared in Cairo's Al-Ahram Weekly, London's Al-Hayat, and the London Review of Books, take us from the Oslo Accords through the U.S. led invasion of Iraq, and present information and perspectives too rarely visible in America.Said is unyielding in his call for truth and justice. He insists on truth about Israel's role as occupier and its treatment of the Palestinians. He pleads for new avenues of communication between progressive elements in Israel and Palestine. And he is equally forceful in his condemnation of Arab failures and the need for real leadership in the Arab world.

Foreword by Tony Judt
PART ONE: The Second Intifada Begins, Clinton’s Failure
1 Palestinians Under Siege
2 The Tragedy Deepens
3 American Elections: System or Farce?
4 Trying Again and Again
5 Where Is Israel Going?
6 The Only Alternative
7 Freud, Zionism, and Vienna
8 Time to Turn to the Other Front
9 These Are the Realities
10 Thinking About Israel
11 Defiance, Dignity, and the Rule of Dogma
12 Enemies of the State
13 Sharpening the Axe
14 The Price of Camp David
15 Occupation Is the Atrocity
16 Propaganda and War
PART TWO: September 11, the War on Terror, the West Bank and Gaza Reinvaded
17 Collective Passion
18 Backlash, Backtrack
19 Adrift in Similarity
20 A Vision to Lift the Spirit
21 Suicidal Ignorance
22 Israel’s Dead End
23 Emerging Alternatives in Palestine
24 The Screw Turns, Again
25 Thoughts About America
26 What Price Oslo?
27 Thinking Ahead
28 What Has Israel Done?
29 Crisis for American Jews
30 Palestinian Elections Now
31 One-Way Street
32 Slow Death: Punishment by Detail
33 Arab Disunity and Factionalism
34 Low Point of Powerlessness
PART THREE: Israel, Iraq, and the United States
35 Israel, Iraq, and the United States
36 Europe Versus America
37 Misinformation About Iraq
38 Immediate Imperatives
39 An Unacceptable Helplessness
40 A Monument to Hypocrisy
41 Who Is in Charge?
42 A Stupid War
43 What Is Happening to the United States?
44 The Arab Condition
45 Archaeology of the Road Map
46 Dignity and Solidarity
Afterword by Wadie E. Said
Index

Edward W. Said was University Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. He was the author of more than twenty books, including Orientalism and Culture and Imperialism (both available in paperback from Vintage Books), and his essays and reviews appeared in newspapers and periodicals throughout the world. Said died in September 2003.