Occidentalism: The West in the Eyes of Its Enemies: Amazon.ca: Ian Buruma, Avishai Margalit: Books

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Four characterizations of the West contribute to the anti-Western stance Buruma and Margalit call Occidentalism and are used to justify attacking individual Westerners as less-than-human beings. The West prefers the sinful city to the virtuous countryside; the West destroys heroism and replaces it with trading; the West thinks only of matter and not of spirit; the West worships evil. Buruma and Margalit argue that the first two of those conceptions, typical of secular Occidentalism, are themselves Western, products of European romanticism that early-twentieth-century Japan and Germany exploited to their own ruin. The third idea informs Russia's long struggle with the West but stems from German romanticism, in particular, with its sense of the wounded national soul. The fourth, peculiar to religious Occidentalism, animates radical Islamism but derives from the good-evil polarities of Persian Manichaeism that the young Augustine embraced. Buruma and Margalit conclude that these ideas' lives are "a tale of cross-contamination" that cannot be ended by answering anti-Western intolerance with more intolerance. A timely tract, brilliantly though broadly argued. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"'An Important book... brilliantly done.' George Walden, Daily Mail Critics' Cholce; 'Ambitious and impressive... A fine book.' Philip Bobbitt, New York Times; 'Illuminating... Succinct, elegant and challenging.' Economist; 'Groundbreaking... It is hard to imagine the reader who will not learn something from this book.' Robert Irwin, Independent" --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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13 Reviews

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3.5 out of 5 stars (13 customer reviews)

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars incomplete?, Jun 24 2004

By

Lawrence Tung (Irvine, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Occidentalism (Hardcover)

With Edward Said's Orientalism in mind, this book, obviously, is an answer to Mr. Said's thesis. However, Mr. Said was a lebanon-born scholar studying, in most of his life, in U.S. while in my humble opinion, the two authors don't have the same depth of counterpart trans-cultural experience. The book is extermely short to treat this huge subject, which, inescapability, fails to answer these two questions:

1. The book put a lot of effort on describing how the "Orient" hate the "Occident" on its corrupt social values, self-centerism, bourgeois, etc. But, does the rural conservative part of a "West" country has the same feeling against their own megapolis?

2. Beside the "hatred" towards the west, there is also a lot of admiration, which this book doesn't cover at all. E.g., Ian Buruma's own book "Anglophile" document and study how UK is "loved" by a lot of people. How can an "East" person love the "West" if there is only "hatred"? How is the struggle between the two class of people? E.g., in Japan, during the Meiji period, there was a proposal to drop Asia identity and jump into the Europe identity. In China, a similar proposal for a total Westernization around 100 years ago too. How can Arab/Chinese/Japanese/Indian send their kids to study in Europe/America if they hate the Europe/US?

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars good introduction, but not much on direct cause of terrorism, Jun 1 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Occidentalism (Hardcover)

A good introductory book on the subject. Buruma has been writting extensively on Japan, China, and other far east countries. So, it is a surprise to read a brief account on some of the historical figures from 19 century German and Russian occidentalists. Of course, examples are also drawn from Japan and China. However, it is weak and not convicing on why Al Qaeda attacks the west and particularly the US.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Worth reading it, dumping stereotyped perceptions, May 30 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Occidentalism (Hardcover)

For a non-specialist, this is the key to a wide range of (not so flattering) ideas about "Western culture" prevailing all over the globe.

While reading it, I wondered how our Western democracies can frame any sensible policies that will shape our future without dumping our own stereotyped perception of "the rest" of mankind and, more importantly, learn how "they" view "us". (Well, "they", that could be close to 4 billion people on this globe, or those among them having the privilege of thinking - leave alone reading - anything beyond the exigency of raw, day to day survival).

After reading it, I have become convinced that we can't expect sensible and just policies to take shape without the kind of insights the authors have gathered and placed before us without any trace of cynicism. In other words, it's high time we provide "non-Westerners" with some valid reasons to strive towards democracy and tolerance on their part.

So, read and discuss it with others - fortunately, in the West, any well founded opinion (still) can make a difference!

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4.0 out of 5 stars A look into why people have resented the West
To the growing literature which tries to decipher the current divide between Islam and the West, "Occidentalism" is a solid addition, which tells the history of the various groups... Read more

Published on May 27 2004 by N. Tsafos

3.0 out of 5 stars Insightful, yet incomplete
Buruma and Margalit are writing largely in response to professor Edward Said's thesis of Orientalism. Read more