Abstract

The legacy of the Satanic Verses affair remains with us, casting a pall across Western creativity. However, despite the attention it has received, Brian Winston makes the case that it has not been properly accounted for as a watershed moment in the history of free expression in the West. Much of the literature stands in line with general orientalist study and polemic. In fact, there is no succinct history which embraces all that is currently known of the causes of Khomeini's action in February of 1989. Nor is there any single volume bringing together the major copycat events over the following quarter of a century, and their underlying causes and contexts. Thus, any consideration of the chill suffered by the right of free speech because of attacks of this kind is blunted. The Rushdie Fatwa and After seeks to address these omissions. [Publisher's website]