This year's Reith lecturer is the Palestinian American academic, political activist, and literary critic Edward Said. He joined the faculty of Columbia University in 1963 where he is now Professor of English and Comparative Literature. Regarded as one of the founders of post-colonial theory, his 1978 book Orientalism is one of the most influential scholarly books of the 20th century.

In his first of six Reith Lectures, Edward Said examines how intellectuals have been defined by academics, sociologists and writers throughout history. He explores what their role should be in the modern world and looks at what the public and private versions of an intellectual are.