Middle East Peace - An Oxymoron?

This book started our book-club going. It seemed particularly appropriate in the year after the September 11 terrorist attacks. The club read it in two parts, using the book's division between Beirut and Jerusalem.

I found the Beirut section more factual and somewhat less "editorial" than the section on Jerusalem. Friedman paints a vivid picture of living with war and terrorism - of how people could compartmentalize their lives and just ignore the war, bombs and bullets unless it was literally "on their doorstep".

The Jerusalem section seemed to me to be much more an editorial about Israel, Jewish history, and a condemnation of Israeli actions to defend their state.

About the Author

Photo © Nam Kasdan

Thomas L. Friedman spent six years of journalistic service for the New York Times in Beirut and Jerusalem, has won two Pulitzer prizes for international reporting, was the Times' chief diplomatic correspondent, and is now the Foreign Affairs columnist on the Times' op-ed page. Friedman drew on his ten years in the Middle East to write this book.