Postcolonialism, by Robert Young. This is a great book which does exactly what it says it's going to - it introduces the reader to the complex idea of postcolonialism in an interesting and refreshing manner. I say refreshing because rather than devote the book to abstract theory, Young uses almost exclusively examples from history to illustrate aspects of postcolonialism. That being said, I would have actually liked some theory along with stories about Phoolan Devi, Frantz Fanon, and Che Guevara, so I could get a better handle on how those real stories and events relate to texts.
      Also, in my opinion Young seems a bit too idealistically devoted to some of the political views espoused in what he describes, though as Said pointed out in Orientalism, "...the general liberal consensus that 'true' knowledge is fundamentally non-political (and conversely, that overtly political knowledge is not 'true' knowledge) obscures the highly if obscurely organized political circumstances obtaining when knowledge is produced." Everything's political, right? In any case, if you want to learn more about a burdgeoning genre that is a wonderful aid for learning about the world and practicing thinking in shades of grey, Postcolonialism is great; since my first pass through, the nightly news and articles on World News have taken on whole new meaning, and I even realized my favorite novel Evolution's Shore might have been perfect for a thesis after all.
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"Literally, according to its Latin etymology, 'translation' means to carry or to bear across. Its literal meaning is thus identical with that of 'metaphor,' which, according to its Greek etymology, means to carry or to bear across." - just another interesting quote