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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
‘Jubilantly intelligent – a dashing hybrid of autobiography and journalism… a lifeline to the sane, a beacon to the hopeful.’
Michael Coren, The Times
‘Friedman fills the yawning gap between verbiage and understanding with grace, precision and insight.’
Economist.
‘A striking achievement.’
Financial Times.
Product Description
A Second Edition of Thomas Friedman’s stunning book, the first edition of which won the American National Book Award.
‘If you’re only going to read one book on the Middle East, this is it.’ Seymour Hersh
In this lucid, incisive and memorable book, acclaimed on both sides of the Atlantic, Friedman reaches deeper into the traumatic and complex recent history of the conflicts in the Middle East than any previous writer.
For this new edition, Friedman has added a further two chapters that bring the book up to 1995 and the unfolding – and stalling – of the Middle Eastern peace process.
From Beirut to Jerusalem is wonderully shrewd, surprisingly funny and indispensable to anyone seeking a fuller understanding of the political causes and psychological effects of the seemingly endless strife which besets this embattled region.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A great achievement - this is indeed a good starting point and Friedman is at his best when he relates the horror of the Sabra and Shatila refugee camp massacres of Palestinians in Lebanon. But there is a sense that he is trying to distil the Arab-Israeli conflict into easy nuggets for the reader - one needs to go much further than this. However he is refreshingly open about his own misconceptions and what he learnt from living in the region. Edward Said has a perceptive review of this book in his 'Politics of Dispossession'. For more depth on the Lebanon side, go to Robert Fisk's 'Pity the Nation'
9 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Friedman grew up in the American Mid-West as a Jew inspired by the Six Day War. He came to the MIddle East and shed much of his emotional baggage along the way. His book is an exceptionally clear-sighted, detailed analysis which very refreshingly asks the reader to forget about history and consider how the mess can be sorted out. There is none of the usual anti-Israel rhetoric. He blasts the Isrealis for their misdeeds and praises them for their attempts to build a country out of such disaparte strands of Jewish identity. There are no utopias here, no fantasies about 'why can't they all just live together' or 'they stole the land they've got to give it back' - just a stubborn insistence on understanding two very different peoples and demanding that each of them shed the pathology of victimhood to create the future.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I first read this in the early 1990s,and then later in the 1990s visited both Syria and Lebanon,and found this a good read to carry round on long bus rides.Note-I have transported this book safely across the Turkish,Syrian,Lebanese and Jordanian borders without any trouble.
Friedman has lived widely in the Middle East(he mentions Egypt,Lebabnon and Israel)and speaks both Hebrew and Arabic,as well as having a master's in Middle East history.He writes well and fluently,and his experiences are fascinating-being one of the first outsiders to enter Sabra and Shatilla in 1982,being a visitor to Hama,Syria after Assad crushed an uprising there in 1982 with maybe 20 000 dead.
I feel that Friedman has tried to be impartial and accurate,but,as a US journalist,it's difficult not to be pro-Israel;otherwise you may well be unemployed in the near future.One story in the book is that,during the siege of Beirut in summer 1982,he protested against the editing of his reports with such force as to almost get himself dismissed.I'd say he is pro-Israeli about 60% of the time-an amazing feat for a US journalist.If you haven't got the energy for academic works,this is well worthwhile.
Friedman has lived widely in the Middle East(he mentions Egypt,Lebabnon and Israel)and speaks both Hebrew and Arabic,as well as having a master's in Middle East history.He writes well and fluently,and his experiences are fascinating-being one of the first outsiders to enter Sabra and Shatilla in 1982,being a visitor to Hama,Syria after Assad crushed an uprising there in 1982 with maybe 20 000 dead.
I feel that Friedman has tried to be impartial and accurate,but,as a US journalist,it's difficult not to be pro-Israel;otherwise you may well be unemployed in the near future.One story in the book is that,during the siege of Beirut in summer 1982,he protested against the editing of his reports with such force as to almost get himself dismissed.I'd say he is pro-Israeli about 60% of the time-an amazing feat for a US journalist.If you haven't got the energy for academic works,this is well worthwhile.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Dated personal experience, but still good history
I first read this book twenty years ago, when the events dscribed within were very much current headlines. Read more
Published 19 days ago by Mike Obermaier
Brilliant
Brilliant book for those of you that what a personal account of the Middle East struggles. The book provides some facinating insight into the cultures and political characters of... Read more
Published on 18 Nov 2009 by O. Dairo
It has so much truth in it...
Coming from the Middle-East, I tend to be a bit sarcastic about Americans writing about Israelis and Arabs... Let's face it, they tend to not know what they are talking about. Read more
Published on 19 Dec 2006 by Tammam Aloudat
from Beirut to Jerusalem
This is a great invaluable book for someone who knows very little about the Middle East - Mr Friedman walks you through his experiences of a complex and confusing place. Read more
Published on 3 Nov 2005 by R. C. Morris
a potential starting place for reading about the Middle East
I had this book on my "to read" list for about a year, and then it sat on my shelf for five months after buying it before I finally got around to reading it. Read more
Published on 25 Aug 2004 by Joe Sherry
bland misrepresentation of an immensely complex struggle
Although fairly well-balanced for an American version of the Middle East (i.e., 80% biased in favour of Israel), the book provides little useful analysis of the Lebanese, Lebanon... Read more
Published on 3 Aug 2001
A true and live caption of Middle Eastern history
I highly recommend this book to anyone who knows nothing about the Middle East and would like to know something about this part of the world without reading too many history books. Read more
Published on 4 Feb 2000
Excellent read
This is a brilliant synopsis of events in Lebanon and Israel - gripping, readable and concise. Highly recommended
Published on 13 April 1999
Captivating, terrific and eye opening account of Middle East
Wow...what a read!! It truly is a journey which surpasses religion and culture. Thomas Friedmans' account of his time in Bierut as a journalist is absolutley enthralling. Read more
Published on 10 Mar 1999
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