The Orientalist by Tom Reiss - ISBN: 9780099483779
Paperback
Jewish man’s Arab passion hides a shocking 20th-century identity.

The Orientalist

In Search of a Man caught between East and West

$44.30

  • Paperback

    480 pages

  • Release Date

    1 September 2006

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Summary

An extraordinary and hugely topical story of a Jewish man’s passion for the Arab world, which was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize.

The Orientalist unravels the mysterious life of a man born on the border between West and East, a Jewish man with a passion for the Arab world.

Tom Reiss first came across the man who called himself ‘Kurban Said’ when he went to the ex-USSR to research the oil business on the Caspian Sea, and discovered a novel instead. Written on…

Book Details

ISBN-13:9780099483779
ISBN-10:0099483777
Author:Tom Reiss
Publisher:Vintage Publishing
Imprint:Vintage
Format:Paperback
Number of Pages:480
Release Date:1 September 2006
Weight:333g
Dimensions:199mm x 131mm x 30mm
What They're Saying

Critics Review

Wonderfully compelling… Deeply moving

Wonderfully compelling… Deeply moving * Sunday Times *A wonderous tale, beautifully told…mesmerising, poignant and almost incredible * New York Times *Meticulous and fascinating… Inspiring reading * Spectator *Extraordinary on many counts… It has taken the tireless detective work of Tom Reiss to uncover the real Lev Nussimbaum * Sunday Times *A highly entertaining biography of a very unusual person * Literary Review *An extraordinary tale of reinvention * Guardian *Funny, exactly observed and humane * Daily Telegraph *A highly enjoyable mingling of scholarship and sleuthing that elegantly solves the puzzle of one of the Twentieth Century’s most mysterious writers – Paul TherouxA remarkable story of East meeting West, and the fantastic historical figure who stood astride both worlds, during an almost equally fantastic moment in time. This is history and biography that reads like a great novel – Kevin Baker, author of Paradise AlleyHe has a sharp eye for incongruities, and peppers the book with entertaining footnotes * Sunday Telegraph *

About The Author

Tom Reiss

Tom Reiss is an American author and journalist born in 1964 and living in New York. He is the author of The Orientalist, an acclaimed biography of Lev Nussimbaum (aka Kurban Said) which was shortlisted for the 2006 Samuel Johnson Prize, and The Black Count, a book about the real Count of Monte Christo.

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