Philip the Arab: A Study in Prejudice

[Goffredo]

Ciao<br>
sorry for what maybe seems as an overreaction.<br>
I simply have learned, living in Italy, the hard way to not, abosuletly not, give even a fraction of an inch else certain people take a mile. They appear, with a smile, to be willing to engage an open debate but in reality they are not open, have already made up their minds, and are just waiting for you to lower your pants or drop the soap. I have declared total war against certain "cultural" initiatives and take no prisoners.<br>
<br>
p.s. even if the author wasn't directly responsible for the editor's comments he/she is still responsible! Its not always someone else's fault. Part of the price of being an intellectual is moral responsibility. If not to set some form of example what else are intellectuals good for? <p></p><i></i>

[Anonymous]

Goffredo, I just wanted to say that I agree absolutely with your opinions, including the point you made about not mixing knowledge with politics, religion, ideologies etc. Unfortunately, we don't seem to live in such an ideal world.<br>
I don't believe the editor made an error in describing the book thus. I noticed this appeared to be a Muslim publisher and all their books deal with Arab culture and religion. This immediately explained to me the reason for the rather biased and...um...flowery, imaginitive prose in the book description. Because of this, I felt one shouldn't rush to judge the author, who apparently is well qualified, without actually examining the contents of the book.<br>
I was not even certain if this book was actually aimed at a rather more limited market.<br>
IF the book is better researched and unbiased than the description suggests, then I guess the author is at fault for not approaching a reputable academic publisher. But once again what is the purpose of this book and at what readership is it aimed i.e is it a general history book or is it an Arab cultural study. Oh, dear, I feel I'm not expressing myself too well and we've got back to Goffredo's point about knowledge being untainted by other influences.<br>
Well, I guess one thing is sure. If the author wants to establish a reputation as an internationally respected scholar she 'aint going the right way about it!<br>
<br>
Jackie. <br>
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