'What is the task of the intellectual at a time when, at the heart of liberal democracies, genocide is normalized and protest suppressed?. Said understood that the intellectual's position is not easy to occupy, certainly not with any kind of consistency. There is no template, and no guarantee that the intellectual's willingness to put themselves on the line will make a difference in the short term. Because they cannot trust institutions, states, or religions, conscience must be their guide. But the resonance of Said's books in our particular moment - the fact that they matter in certain respects now even more than they did at the time of their composition - shows that short-term calculus is not always the most relevant measure of their value. Sometimes, the intellectual must also look to the future.' -- Rebecca Ruth Gould, Los Angeles Review of Books.