From Beirut to Jerusalem: Amazon.ca: Thomas L. Friedman: Books

Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

"Friedman, who twice garnered the Pulitzer as a New York Times correspondent in Lebanon and Israel, further delineates the two countries in this provocative, absorbing memoir cum political and social analysis," commented PW. The work won the National Book Award.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"The most intelligent and comprehensive account one is likely to read."---The New York Times Book Review

"If you’re only going to read one book on the Middle East, this is it."---Seymour Hersh

"A book that must be read by all who are concerned about the present and future of a part of our world to which Western civilization has always been, and will continue to be, vitally connected."---The Washington Post Book World

"A sparkling intellectual guidebook…An engrossing journey not to be missed."---The Wall Street Journal
"A complex, illuminating vision written with a novelist’s eye for the telling detail and a reporter’s knack for the revealing quote."---San Francisco Chronicle

"Perhaps no other book written for a popular audience has so successfully explained the unexplainable….This book is an annotated roadmap to the past, and a brilliant crystal ball for the future."---St. Louis Post-Dispatch

"Fascinating…Friedman has mastered his subject."---Time

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Inside This Book (Learn More)
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First Sentence
In June 1979, my wife, Ann, and I boarded a red-and-white Middle East Airlines 707 in Geneva for the four-hour flight to Beirut. Read the first page

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Concordance

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Customer Reviews

124 Reviews

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Average Customer Review

4.4 out of 5 stars (124 customer reviews)

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4.0 out of 5 stars An essential read..., Mar 22 2007

By

richard tremblay (montr�al, canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: From Beirut to Jerusalem (Paperback)

As a journalist Mr Friedman is at its very best when he reports the historical facts, puts them in perspective and analyses them. And reporting the facts is what he does in the first part of this book, Beirut. This is the best part hands down. His analysis is profound, true, and it gives a singular and personal lighting of the civil war in Lebanon and the Israeli invasion.
However, Mr Friedman, as a sociologist, isn't nearly as good (or just maybe his analysis has lost its relevance in the 20-odd years since the book was first published). The Jerusalem part is far too convoluted and sometimes downright obscure in its multi-layered division of the Israeli society.
Also Mr Friedman is a very good writer with a wit all its own. But at times the metaphors he uses are too cute for their own good and the author spends far too much time (his and ours) justifying their pertinence. The book is an impressionist analysis, sort of a 600 pages op-ed supported by impressions, but short on statistical data.
Still a great and essential read.

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars THE BEST introduction to the middle east, Jun 19 2004

By

ROZ mandelcorn (LA, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: From Beirut to Jerusalem (Paperback)

As one of the first books I read about Middle East, and its
conflicts, I RECOMMEND this book STRONGLY for everyone: those that
are new to the region, needing an introduction to the Middle East,
as well as those who want to refresh their knowledge of the region
and the various forms of conflict so common there.

The Middle East can be a confusing place but Friedman sorts it out
for you. FRIEDMAN IS SUCH A TERRIFIC WRITER he made me feel
confident in my new found knowledge, relieved to have his insight
as my foundation, and so wanting to learn more about the entire
region.

I read "From Beirut to Jerusalem" for the first time just before
the first Gulf War; now it is my touchstone, reading parts, or
all of it, again when things over there get crazier.

While Friedman focuses on Lebanon and Israel in this book, he
really is providing you with an understanding of the whole
framework of the Middle East and its conflicts: between countries,
within countries, amongst religions, between peoples of different
ethnic, cultural or racial backgrounds.

Warring religious conflicts within Lebanon may remind you of the
religious tensions between the Sunnis of northern Iraq and the
Shi'ia of south. Syria's late Assad's massive killing of his own
people will immediately remind you of the murder by Saddam Huessin
of the Kurds in northern Iraq.

Even if Israel didn't exist, many of these conflicts would have
happened anyway...and will continue to happen.

Now the fastest growing portion of the Arab and Muslim populations
are the school-aged and young adults. Most have limited
educations and little in the way of meaningful employment to look
forward to. Is it therefore any surprise some of them are so very
frustrated, dissatisfied and unhappy they would become militant
or terrorists.

Although Israel has done some good things for the peoples of the
West Bank, it is unfortunately outweighed by the bad its done there and in Gaza.

And with Israel's peoples being so different than most of the
Middle East and carrying Mohammed's Qu'ran stories of the Jews'
friendship and then perceived betrayal of Mohammed over 700 years
ago, one can see why attacking Israel is a whole lot easier for
these terrorists than challenging the regimes they live under for
better opportunities.

I wish all Americans, at least, would read this book so they
would be better versed in what happens in the rest of the world.
This is a GREAT BOOK.

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6 of 8 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Irresponsible history - Should be able to give it no stars, May 7 2004

By

Arnold Irving (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: From Beirut to Jerusalem (Paperback)

I know this is a popular book. When I lecture on the Middle East, everyone seems to have read it. There are some good parts -- such as the author's description of his personal experience in Lebanon. It's his historical analysis that's the problem. He argues at one point that you can understand Hafez Assad's seige of Hama (February 1982) by understanding the Umayyid Dynasty (beginning in the 8th century). This is classic Western bias. No one would say you could understand (insert modern Western massacre here, say Mai Lai) by understanding (insert ancient Western history here, say the Crusades). And yet Friedman is basically saying that Arabs haven't changed in a millenia. While this is obviously not true, (and couldn't possibly be true of anyone) it reveals an underlying and subtle racism -- or just abject stupidity. There are plenty of better books, and this shows me that being an easy read will beat being responsible any day.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars great book
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