One of the most important post-colonial thinkers and critics of orientalism is Palestinian-American Edward Said. In the Introduction to his book Orientalism, he sets off with an attempt to define what Orientalism is. According to Said, the term embraces a large scope of meanings and approaches, which, in one way or another, refer to the Western ideas about the East, and are inextricably interdependent. These ideas and projections are always influenced by the relation of power, with the East deemed inferior. Said specifies those instances in three main thought lines.