From Beirut to Jerusalem by Thomas L. Friedman

The warning struck him as bizarre, considering that countless Israelis were dying each day of aerial strikes. To illustrate the subtlety of some parts of this crisis, he recalls a specific memory of traveling between the Israeli cities of Haifa and Jerusalem and passing a sign warning travelers of strong crosswinds. Friedman begins his memoir by stating his thesis that the citizens of Jerusalem and Beirut are going through uncannily similar crises of identity. At the same time, he acknowledges that his hopes for the future are rooted in American and Jewish optimism and therefore seem, at times, incompatible with Middle Eastern affairs. From the beginning, he was committed to obtaining hard evidence about a conflict that was too often, he believed, portrayed as primitive and tribal. Friedman, a Jew from Minnesota, risked his safety to document the strife of these two countries. The memoir won the 1989 National Book Award for a nonfiction work, and was named one of The New York Times Book Review’s “Best Books.” The memoir covers Friedman’s stints in Lebanon from 1979 to 1984, and his subsequent move to Israel until 1988. Despite popular portrayals of the Israel-Lebanese conflict, which depict both states as sparring over fundamental incompatibilities and endless historic contentions, Friedman argues that both capital cities are very similar, and their citizens are essentially alike in their desires to have good and safe lives. It tracks his journey from Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, to Jerusalem, the capital of Palestine and Israel, reflecting on the perils and distortions of truth that he encountered while trying to relay truthful information about the two states to the world. From Beirut to Jerusalem is a 1990 memoir by news correspondent and war journalist Thomas L.

From Beirut to Jerusalem by Thomas L. Friedman