From Beirut to Jerusalem

by Thomas L. Friedman

Overview

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

One of the most thought-provoking books ever written about the Middle East, From Beirut to Jerusalem remains vital to our understanding of this complex and volatile region of the world. Three-time Pulitzer Prize winner Thomas L. Friedman drew upon his ten years of experience reporting from Lebanon and Israel to write this now-classic work of journalism. In a new afterword, he updates his journey with a fresh discussion of the Arab Awakenings and how they are transforming the area, and a new look at relations between Israelis and Palestinians, and Israelis and Israelis. Rich with anecdote, history, analysis, and autobiography, From Beirut to Jerusalem will continue to shape how we see the Middle East for many years to come.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250034410
Publisher:	Picador
Publication date:	12/11/2012
Edition description:	Revised
Pages:	656
Sales rank:	148,850
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Thomas L. Friedman is an internationally renowned author, reporter, and columnist—the recipient of three Pulitzer Prizes and the author of several bestselling and award winning books, among them From Beirut to Jerusalem, The World Is Flat, Thank You for Being Late and Hot, Flat, and Crowded.

Hometown:

Washington, D.C. area

Date of Birth:

July 20, 1953

Place of Birth:

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Education:

B.A. in Mediterranean Studies, Brandeis University, 1975; M.A. in Modern Middle East Studies, Oxford University, 1978

Website:

http://www.thomaslfriedman.com/

Table of Contents

A Middle East Chronology xi

Preface to the 2012 Edition xix

1 Prelude: From Minneapolis to Beirut 3

Beirut

2 Would You Like to Eat Now or Wait for the Cease-fire? 21

3 Beirut: City of Versions 49

4 Hama Rules 76

5 The Teflon Guerrilla 106

6 Inside the Kaleidoscope: The Israeli Invasion of Lebanon 126

7 Poker, Beirut-Style 156

8 Betty Crocker in Dante's Inferno 187

9 The End of Something 212

10 Time to Go 243

Jerusalem

11 Crosswinds 251

12 Whose Country Is This, Anyway? 284

13 The Fault Line 322

14 The Earthquake 366

15 Under the Spotlight 425

16 Israel and American Jews: Who Is Dreaming about Whom? 451

Washington

17 From Beirut to Jerusalem to Washington 493

18 Talking with My Grocer 512

19 Buying a Ticket 529

Afterword: Watching Elephants Fly 573

Acknowledgments 617

Index 621

Editorial Reviews

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

“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 road map to the past, and a brilliant crystal ball for the future.” —St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“Fascinating...Friedman has mastered his subject.” —Time

From the Publisher

First published in 1989, Friedman's National Book Award-winning study of the Middle East is brought up-to-date with a new chapter examining critical events in 1995. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

There have been any number of books that have worked hard at interpreting the melange called the Middle East. This one, however, makes a difference because it's so well written and captures the psychological mannerisms of the people of Lebanon and Israel--the first step to understanding some of the mysterious ``why'' that seems to elude the American public and government. Friedman's credentials are impressive: he spent six years of journalistic service for The New York Times in Beirut and Jerusalem, has won two Pulitzer prizes, and is now the Times' chief diplomatic correspondent.

His writing is vastly descriptive, incredibly illuminating, very educational, and marvelously persuasive. His advice to U.S. diplomats is that since ``Middle East diplomacy is a contact sport,'' they must bargain as grocers, or, in other words, realize that everything has a price and the sale can always be made with enough hard work. -- David P. Snider, Casa Grande Public Library, Arizona

Library Journal

Friedman, the NEW YORK TIMES columnist now best known for his book on globalization, THE WORLD IS FLAT, was a correspondent in Lebanon and Israel in the tumultuous 1980s. This production is an abridgment of his book about those years, with the focus on his personal adventures rather than political analysis. Friedman tells compelling stories, but his narration is oddly detached. He relates how he watched a man being kidnapped, how his apartment was bombed, and a host of other harrowing events with the same glibness he uses to spin humorous anecdotes. It’s not that he writes without compassion, only that one doesn’t hear it in his voice. D.B. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine

JUN/JUL 07 - AudioFile