In addition to laying the groundwork for post-colonial studies as an area of inquiry , the book inspired a flurry of scholarship devoted to the other--to groups of people who , by virtue of race , gender , sexuality , or geographical location , are unable to represent themselves and so ( to echo the line from Karl Marx that serves as the book 's epigraph ) must be represented by those more powerful .
The book was popular with Marxists and the powerless .