This is a book about culture, authority/dominance, and colonial projects. Western societies have made the Orient as a political and cultural Other. The Orient’s culture is connected to power. Western representations of other cultures are integral to the narratative ownership and domination. It’s culture is not “representative and expressive of some nefarious “Western” imperialist plot to hold down the “Orient” world” (pg 12). The portrayal of the Orient as exotic, backward, or timeless in literature, art, and academic studies is a form of cultural representation that serves to legitimize Western control over the East. Culture becomes a tool for defining and regulating what is "civilized" and what is "barbaric." I recommend this book to those who want to engage with the cultural repertoires and political perspectives that are angled at Palestine.