A pioneer of postcolonial studies and a tireless champion for his native Palestine, Edward Said (1935-2003) was also an orchestra impresario, a freelance statesman, and a New York intellectual. A student and friend of Said, Timothy Brennan conducted interviews with his mentor's family and associates while drawing upon his letters, unpublished works, and FBI files to create this nuanced biography of the most celebrated Palestinian intellectual of the 20th century. Said's concept of radical humanism redefined the political and religious strife in the Holy Land, and Brennan shows how his ideas changed American academia and the humanities.