Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Pure Genius
This is a work of pure genius that will help you understand what is going on in the Middle East, why Osama and crew attacked the US, and what problems still need to be resolved. It raises the complexity of this war, and presents the difficult but neccesary solutions. You will scratch your head saying, "I never thought of it that way!"Thomas Friedman understands what is going on in the world. He's been an international correspondant for the New York times many years. His first book, "From Beirut to Jersulam" was published over 10 years ago, and highlights the issues between the Isrealis and Palestinians. As a longtime correspondent in both Beirut and Jerusalem, he had a unique vantage point to the conflict. In "the Lexus and the Olive Tree" he explains the innevitability of globabilization and the value and danger of being plugged in to the global economic system. This insight is drawn into his latest work. The book is broken into three sections:
- Columns immediately preceding 9/11
- Columns immediately following 9/11
- Assorted travel notes post/11 (somewhat redundant with #2) Some of the key insights that were new to me:
1 - In the 60s, Korea had the same per-capita standard of living as the Middle East. Now it's eclipsed most of the middle east by 100%, largely as a result of modernization programs. Even Saudi Arabia has seen it's per capita income drop by more than 50%
2 - Much of the anti-American hatred in the Arab world is a result of a schooling system funded largely by Iranian and Saudi non-profits. This educational system needs to be replaced with a more modern one.
3 - We are dealing with a world in which the "Word on the street" in much of the Arab world believes 4,000 Jews received a warning not to go into work on 9/11. This is a war of educating the street as much as it is about guns.
4 - Iran a singificantly anti-American government. It is no coincidence that the "Word on the street" is very pro-American as a result.
5 - Israel offered the Palestinians 94% of the occupied territories in a peace deal, which Arafat refuted at Davos. This cost the Prime Minister his election and brought Sharon to power. All of these points above are worth pondering. They point to a world that is much more integrated and complex than meets the eye. They require solutions much deeper than bombs and money. In summary, the book is very important. Thomas Friedman delves into the minds and history of our enemies. He works to understand the problem more than "It's us against them, so stock up on the arms" It is an immensely valuable book for understanding the world around us, and what our country needs to do.
Rating: - Concentrated Friedman
Longitudes & Attitudes: Exploring the World after September 11 by Thomas L. Friedman is worth reading, and probably even more so if you haven't followed his twice-weekly column in the Times for the past few years. The book is divided into three sections: columns before 9/11, columns after and a diary of Friedman's travels after September 11. It's interesting to read the columns all together, to feel the full force of Friedman's arguments at once, but I did think by the end of the diary, it was beginning to feel a little repetitive. All the old gang of ideas from Friedman's theories are there: The globalization theme that walls are coming down, and as they do, those so far disenfranchised by global capitalism will work to defeat it, sometimes violently; that globalization itself is its own worst weakness by democratizing information, capital and technology even to those in societies in which there are no democratic hallmarks - a free press, equity for women and general civil rights - that the Arab world, particularly Saudi Arabia, is responsible for the lackluster future it offers its burgeoning younger generations and that this society's marriage to fundamentalist Islam as a justification for totalitarian regimes is a danger to everyone on the planet. It's a good read and one that will probably change in resonance as we get further from 9/11/01 and find out how right or wrong Friedman's hypotheses are, or how correct his calls for specific actions may turn out to be.
Rating: - The Song Remains the Same
Thomas Friedman breaks no new ground with this book. He doesn't have to. The bulk of "Longitudes & Attitudes" is a collection of his regular New York Times columns from December 2000 until July 2002. Friedman regulars will have read most or all of these columns, and even his occasional readers will be familiar with the handful of pieces that have gained fame for the clarity of their vision and their new insights into old problems. Friedman's message is simple. Anti-democratic Arab regimes conspire with radical Muslim clerics throughout the Middle East in an unholy alliance to maintain the illegitimate governments in power with the support of religious leaders spewing medieval backwardness and hatred. The U.S. props up many of these regimes in the name of an expedient short-term stability aimed at milking them of their oil reserves. Who suffers? Everyone. Arab societies are trapped in a backward-looking anti-modernist world of illiteracy, intolerance, repression of women, and censorship. A foreseeable by-product are hate-filled xenophobic young men who would rather kill themselves and thousands of innocents than search for creative solutions to this seemingly intractable impasse. Against this backdrop always looms the Israeli/Palestinian conflict which fuels the flames of anti-Western rhetoric while simultaneously distracting Arab societies from the pressing need to reform themselves. And this conflict can not be resolved until Israelis withdraw from their settlements in Palestinian areas and until Yasir Arafat is no longer a player.Friedman sounds this drumbeat over and over, with anecdotes, insights, analysis, and ruminations. His language is as simple as his message and has won him three Pulitzer Prizes. He is an unabashed American patriot with excellent contacts throughout the region. He is not an academic, but someone who has a heart, passion, skill, and is gifted with the ability to make sense of chaos and to find threads of music in cacophony. Thomas Friedman is an excellent writer.
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