Note to Authors: Don't Do This!

Dear Reader,

I am sick of being called an "Orientalist." As if being interested in another culture were a bad thing. And, as I've pointed out ad nauseum, "The Jewel of Medina" doesn't exoticize the Middle East. To the contrary, readers of my book will find that Muhammad and his followers lived grueling lives of dust, heat, and near starvation.

The reason for my gripe today is a thesis sent to me by a U.K. student accusing my novel, again, of Orientalism. I'm not going to argue that point — I'm ...