Rating: 
Summary: The Preeminent Book Concerning The Jews and Arabs
Review: I was first attracted to Friedman by reading "The Lexus and the Olive Tree, which was a fantastic book on its own. I then became more interested in his articles in the New York Times. However the book that started it all, "From Beirut to Jerusalem", always seemed to skip me even though it had won many accolades including the National Book Award. I finanlly decided to read it and finished it almost as soon as I picked it up. Friedman's style it very engaging and I love the way he illustrates his points anecdotally. He has an uncanny ability to reduce very complicated issues to a level understood by a wide array of readers. "From Beirut to Jerusalem" can be read as a book on politics or a work in cultural geography. Furthermore, there are many other disciplines that Friedman seems to address in recounting his years of experience living in both Beirut and Jerusalem. The book is not a comprehensive history of the conflicting regions nor is it an outright endorsement of the state of Israel. In fact, Mr. Friedman, who is a Jew, has some rather interesting things to say concerning the state of Israel and there behavior over the last couple of decades. He recognizes the legitimacy of the Palestinian's argument and has an even-handed approach to the issue. My only complaint is that I wish Friedman would continually update the book since the relationship between the Palestinians and the Jews is one of the most dynamic relationships in world politics today. The situation is always evolving. As is stated by Seymour Hersh on the back cover of my edition, "If you're only going to read one book on the Middle East, this is it." I agree wholeheartedly.
Rating:
Summary: Flawed but Extremely Good Nonetheless
Review: First a bit of disclosure: My mother was Jewish and my father was a South Asian Muslim. I was raised as a non-observant reformed Jew and believe that both Israel and Palestine should exist as countries. Don't know if that makes me unbiased or not. To segue into the review, Friedman is definitely not unbiased. However, his main bias (at the time of writing, rather than now) is not pro-Israeli or pro-Palestinian. It is pro a certain view of Israel. He believes that Israel should be a liberal, but religious state. This colors all of his statements about internal Israeli politics and makes his quotations from various politicians and citizens less reliable than you would expect. On the other hand, the picture he paints of Lebanon is one of the most engaging and interesting sections of a recent history book I have ever read. Friedman has the unique ability to give the facts like a reporter, but tell the story like a fiction author. His nuanced view of the Palestinians is quite interesting too. His view that the Israelis tried to coopt the Palestinians and that it almost work but the Palestinians finally demanded a "divorce" is quite original. His view that Palestinians do well in world opinion when they attack Israeli soldiers but not when they attack Israeli citizens is also quite perceptive. I would definitely recommend this book as a starter for those interested in the Middle East, even though it is over a decade old.
Rating:
Summary: Exceptional...
Review: Friedman has succeeded in writing a timeless book on a timeless subject, and he covers the world of the middle east with amazing passion, clarity, and a writing style that has deservedly brought him a world-wide reputation as a journalist of the highest caliber. In a nutshell, the book deals with the ten years Friedman spent living in the middle east (five in Lebanon, five in Israel), and shines a glaring spotlight on the abundant good, bad, and ugly that is to be found there. Even-handed and exceptionally readable from page one till the end.
Rating: 
Summary: Sand in my eyes
Review: Reading this book gave me a much better understanding of the history and current struggles of life in this part of the world. From a culture so different from our western way of life, it was extremely helpful to have it interpreted through the eyes of an american immersed in the confusion and chaos of life in this region of the world. This book is a great introduction into understanding how and why things happen the way they do for many people in the middle east.
Rating:
Summary: Lucid, readable context for Middle Eastern conflicts
Review: Without having been a follower of this political situation previous to 9/11, due to my high frustration level with available explanations, I found his personal/professional journey precisely enlightening. With the exact amount of history necessary to give context to the actions taken by each of the interested parties to this conlficted arena and blending it with his presonal experience and professional acumen, I suddenly found myself understanding things that had baffled me for a long time. Written 7 years ago, Mr Friedman's research and observations clued me in not only to the historical leaders and movements of the Christian/Moslem/Jewish peoples and their political relationships, but to the nuances in the daily lives of the people in these conflicts. Mr. Friedman's book gave a great deal of comprehensible context to the political issues fundemental to the problems in the Middle East today.
Rating:
Summary: Great Personal Picture of the Middle East
Review: Excellent view of the Middle East from a man who lived in both Beruit during the Civil war of the 80's and later in Jerusalem.
Friedman punctuates his description of Beirut as the once Switzerland of the Middle East with personal descriptions of events that unfolded before his own eyes. Friedman gives a living testimony of the destruction of a once tolerant City that in spite of multiple religious groups and tribal factions thrived on its diversity only to be shattered by Civil war between Christians, Moslems, Druse and at times the Palestinians. Friedman gives a great history of the region including the incredulous brutality of regimes virtually typical in the Arab world and not only intolerant of religious differences but intolerant based on tribal association. The name of the game is not just revenge but brutal revenge to stop future acts. Sad to think of the cultural opportunities that a peaceful Beirut offered and besides its destruction the pulling of The US Marines into the conflict inadvertently aiding one side only to be attacked by the others. Friedman also discusses Israel and the great dilema caused by the intoxicating success of the 67 war and capture of the Sinai and the West Bank. The great success took Israel from security within to hosts in land occupied by Arabs who may have been better off that in other Arab countries but disadvantaged compared to the rights of the Israeli occupiers. Friedman discusses how the occupation was like festering sore to the Palestinian people causing virtual loss of self-esteem that erupted in violence like spontaneous combustion. Friedman tackles the political conflicts between the Israeli parties and among the various religious groups. Additional conflicts are between secular and non-secular Jews and extreme orthodox and conservative Jews. Additional conflicts are the American Jew's perception of Israel versus the Israeli's view of what is right Israel but also differences in who qualifies as Jew in reference to the extreme conservatives in Israel. Also fascinating chronicle of Yassar Arafat's constant rise and fall whom in spite of failures and differences and lost opportunities survives as the face of the Palestinians. He is their billboard good or bad. This is a large but very readable, reflective book.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Eyewitness Account
Review: From Beirut to Jerusalem provides a concise and vivid primer on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the form of Friedman's personal experience in his New York Times postings to both cities. Whatever one may think of his personal opinions, Friedman has spent many years on the ground talking to individuals on both sides -- his take therefore deserves more respect and patience than that of the endless armchair ideologues always ready to lend a rant. That said, the Beirut section of the book is the stronger, because of its richness of fascinating detail in describing the city's unique society and fall. Once in Jerusalem there is more pontification, though much of it is learned and interesting. Though the book wanders a bit down the back stretch, it's hard to imagine a better one book introduction to the 1980s Middle East than this.
Rating:
Summary: unbiased, and highly readable.
Review: This is an insightful and entertaining account of the author's years in the Middle East as a journalist for the New York Times. Thomas Friedman (currently op-ed columnist for the NYT) spent almost five years in civil war torn Beirut from the late seventies to the early eighties, covering such events as the Hama massacre and the Israeli invasion (and subsequent pullout) of Lebanon, and winning the Pulitzer prize for international reporting (twice) in the process.
His account of the years in Beirut is the best part of the book. The capital of a country once known as the Switzerland of the Middle East was reduced to a battleground with an unknown number of factions fighting each other, complete with militias, carbombs, checkpoints, snipers... the works. With such rules as 'I operate a checkpoint, therefore I exist.' Friedman attempts to make sense of this seeming chaos, going beyond the history of this particular conflict to try and understand the cultural and historical reasons which determine the way things work in the Middle East. Not being from that part of the world, one cannot judge whether his conclusions are valid or not, but it is clear that he has been completely honest in describing things as he saw them, and his understanding of a world far removed from his own is by no means superficial.
As another reviewer has pointed out, he does seem to hold Israel to a higher moral benchmark, and his account of the Jerusalem days is somehow not as satisfactory. Nonetheless, this book is an excellent read, being not only informative, but also highly readable and entertaining.
Rating:
Summary: still useful ten years later
Review: This book is as balanced an account as one can find of the middle east conflict in general. his elucidation of the byzantine history of the lebanon conflict is excellent, as is his dispassionate analysis of the Israel-Palestine conflict. Perhaps the best evidence that he is onto something is that both sides think he's biased against them.
Rating:
Summary: Need to go there, or read this book
Review: Experience over seas is what Most people lack to really understand the way peoples world wide live and think. It is very difficult to even understand unless you live there for a year in the midst of that culture. This book brings this culture to us in the pages. The writer does inject his opinions but they are as close as I've read. I have lived in the area of Lebanon and Israel for several years. I would say this is the closest account I have seen with the exception of the prophecy. I strongly recommend reading a book that covers this area very well and has predicted the events accurately, in addition more predictions, the terrorism esp. SB 1 or God By Karl Mark Maddox.
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