Said is the author of eighteen books, including Orientalism, Culture and Imperialism and a memoir Out of Place which traces his growing sense of himself as an outsider: Arab but Christian, Palestinian but the holder of a US passport. His latest work, co-written with Daniel Barenboim, is Parallels and Paradoxes. He is also a music critic, opera scholar, pianist and the most eloquent spokesman for the Palestinian cause in the West. 'Edward Said is among the truly important intellectuals of our century.' (Nadine Gordimer)