10 influential authors who came to the US as immigrants

These 10 immigrant authors have all made significant contributions to US literature and culture.

9. Edward Said

Said was born in Jerusalem to a prosperous Palestinian family in 1935, but his father moved the family to Egypt in 1948 during the Arab-Israeli War. In 1951 Said was sent to boarding school in the US, where he remained for the rest of his life. In 1978, "Orientalism," Said's most well-known book, redefined the way that literary critics and academics viewed the Arab world, and became a central work in the new wave of post-colonial studies in the 1970's. As a vocal advocate for a Palestinian state, Said publicly denounced the way that totalitarian Arab leaders lead their countries, as well as the way that the US handled peace talks with Yasser Arafat. Said was a renaissance man, making contributions not only to literary criticism, but also political, musical, and cultural criticism.

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