Abstract
This paper discusses how "From Beirut to Jerusalem" chronicles Thomas L. Friedman's experiences as a reporter covering the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990). It examines how, written as a means of enabling the public to understand the intricacies and complexities of the Middle East, the book documents Friedman's journey from a Jewish teenager in Minnesota to an awestruck journalist in Beirut to a grizzled Middle East observer in Jerusalem. The writer explains how Friedman's work details and discusses the way in which the past stultifies the present and confuses the future. As such, the paper reviews "From Beirut to Jerusalem" by reflecting on its content and the important message it communicates to a watching world.

Outline:
Introduction
Reporting from the Land of Milk and Honey
Conclusion

From the Paper
"Friedman's accounts of daily life in war-torn Lebanon facilities a better understanding or what it means to be surrounded by violence and bloodshed each and every day. His vignettes, for example, exquisitely capture the bizarre, often contradictive existence in which the absurd plays such a significant role. He describes the way in which fighting tends to be restricted to certain areas at specific times, thus meaning that pedestrians will witness a terrifying gun battle on one street while shoppers browse the market stalls just around the corner. As such, the continuing presence of violence seems to have become the norm, as seen by the way in which the most frequently asked question following a vehicle bombing is not "How many were killed?" or "Who were responsible?", but "What did it do to the dollar rate?" Similarly, the question "How is it outside?" does not refer to the weather, as one would naturally assume, but the security conditions on the streets (Friedman, 1990). "

Tags:Lebanese, Civil, war, Middle, East, terrorism, six-day, war

Abstract
This paper discusses the book, "From Beirut to Jerusalem", which was written by Thomas Friedman long before today's current climate of heightened awareness of terrorism's impact upon the West. The paper contends that the book functions more as a snapshot of history than as a living picture of today's current events and concerns. The paper explores the political rubric and analysis applied by the author to the civil war in Beirut that was transpiring all around him, even infiltrating his own hotel at some points, claiming that it remains compelling from a political, as well as a human, narrative point of view.

From the Paper
"Thomas Friedman's From Beirut to Jerusalem was written in 1989, after the author's tenure as the New York Times correspondent in Beirut. He was the first Jewish correspondent to the region, and it was considered, at the time, a daring act for this paper to engage in such a "statement". Friedman's balanced and personally revealing, soul-searching analysis in this text is a testimony to the fact that, no matter how much criticism has been leveled at this paper by other aspects of the media since, the New York Times certainly made the right decision in picky Friedman to ask the needed, probing questions about the violence transpiring in the region at the time. He emerges as both unbiased and likeable in his self-presentation."

Tags:testimony, jewish, correspondent

Abstract
This paper discusses the attack on the U.S. Marines in Beirut in 1983 that would begin a new era of terrorism. The author provides a detailed description of the historical and political background of this event as well as related attacks on U.S citizens in the Middle East. The author describes terrorist organizations and other threats to the U.S. in the area and the decisions made by the U.S. to counter them while protecting the Marines at the same time. The author theorizes what may have happened had either Harry S. Truman or George W. Bush been president at the time of the attack, and concludes that this episode in American history serves as a learning tool for future administrations, in how to balance the immediate needs of safety for our troops and the long-term needs of safety for the nation's democracy.

Outline:
Introduction
Factual Summary of Events
Deliberation and Debate Within the United States Government
The Threat
U.S. Responses
Comparative Analysis
Conclusion

From the Paper
"The bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut would place the United States between a rock and a hard place. If they continued with the peacekeeping strategy that had brought them to Lebanon, they were surely to be targeted again. If they left the area, they would be abandoning some of their best allies. And, if they stepped up their position and waged war on those responsible, they might negatively affect other tenuous relationships in the Middle East, while increasing the danger for their troops. In the end, it would be a decision that would be heavily debated and still questioned more than twenty years later."

Tags:paratrooper, PLO, multinational Hezbollah refugee security violence escalation explosion embassy

Abstract
This seven-page paper summarizes the fundamental parts of the book as well as critically analysis "From Beirut to Jerusalem" by Thomas L. Friedman.

From the Paper
"The Marines in Beirut . 1982

Introduction
1982 was not the first year that the Marines were deployed to Lebanon, nor was Ronald Reagan the first American president to feel the need to send them there. President Eisenhower also deployed the Marines to Lebanon in 1958, with equally unclear motives and troubling results. The intent in the following pages is to look at the reintroduction of the Marines to Beirut under the conditions of the time and try to understand what went wrong and what might have better served U.S. interests. That re-deployment, which began in 1982, was marked by the bombing of the Marine barracks in October of 1983 which represented the largest single day's loss of American servicemen since World War II. After that time, much of the U.S. effort was reduced to damage control until the Marines were ..."

Abstract
This paper presents an overview of the book, "From Beirut to Jerusalem," by Thomas L. Friedman. The paper describes and discusses Friedman's experiences in the Middle East as a reporter for the "New York Times" during the war-torn era of the 1980s and early 1990s.

From the Paper
"Thomas L. Friedman, author of From Beirut to Jerusalem, presents in this book a journalist's account of the development of the problems in the Middle East from about 1979 to 1995 when this book was published. Friedman is a journalist serving as the Foreign Affairs columnist for the New York Times. He has won two Pulitzer Prizes for international reporting, and he spent ten years in the Middle East, which is the experience on which he draws to write this book, most of which is personal observation of events at which he was present or an analysis of information and experience garnered from his time in the Middle East. From 1979 to 1981, Friedman was the Beirut correspondent for United Press International, and in 1982 he became the bureau chief in Beirut for the New York Times. He won his second Pulitzer Prize in 1988 for reporting. Thomas Friedman's From Beirut to Jerusalem was written in 1989, after the author's residence as the New York Times correspondent in Beirut."

Tags:journalist, account, foreign, affairs, columnist, personal, observation, lebanon, syria, lebanese, palestinians

From the Paper
"In From Beruit to Jerusalem Thomas L. Friedman offers his first-hand observations of life in the Middle East where he worked as a reporter for ten years from June 1979 to 1989 (3). As a two time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for his reporting in the Middle East, Friedman offers a perceptive account of his days living in Beirut and Jerusalem rendered with rare insight into the belief systems and fallacies of both Arabs and Jews. Friedman observes that his earliest interest in Israel occurred when he was in high school and his parents flew him over Christmas vacation to visit his sister who was studying in Israel (4). After studying in Israel and Egypt, he began to become mutually interested in both worlds and began studying Arabic (6). Friedman's deep appreciation for both the Jewish and Arab worlds..."

Tags:BOOK, REVIEWS, NON-FICTION

From the Paper
"Thomas L. Friedman, author of From Beirut to Jerusalem, presents in this book a journalist's account of the development of the problems in the Middle East from about 1979 to 1995 when this version of the book was published. Friedman is a journalist serving as the Foreign Affairs columnist for the op-ed page of the New York Times. He has won two Pulitzer Prizes for international reporting, and he spent ten years in the Middle East, which is the experience on which he draws to write this book, most of which is personal observation of events at which he was present or an analysis of information and experience garnered from his time in the Middle East. From 1979 to 1981, Friedman was the Beirut correspondent for United Press International, and in 1982 he became the bureau chief in Beirut for the New York Times. He won his second Pulitzer Prize in 1988 for reporting."

Tags:MIDDLE, EAST, BOOK, REVIEWS, NON-FICTION

Abstract
This paper discusses the United States' foreign policy approach under the Reagan administration. In particular, the paper discusses the American Middle East unilateralism according to the United Nations, particularly following their invasion of Grenada. Also discussed is the attack on the US marine compound in the Beirut Airport in 1983 and the results of the US response to the attack.

From the Paper
"It is, too, important to mention here that more than American lives were lost; there are the lives of the numerous Lebanese civilians whose lives were lost as America attempted to flex its muscles in that country in 1982-1983. It also plays into the hands of the propagandists when America or any other country for that matter, attempts to take a unilateral stand and attempt to dictate Middle Eastern policy. The end result, as was the case in Lebanon in 1983, is that America lacked the understanding of where it was, and the history that preceded the events of 1983. For a country like America, that is not an acceptable level of preparedness to go into a foreign country as a mediator or a shaper of peace and policy. There is no excuse, and it is the most egregious demonstration of ineptitude and poor foreign relations and policy demonstrated by the United States to date - except as may prove to be the case in Iraq."

Tags:terrorism, Lebanon, UN, conflict

Abstract
This paper examines the book "An Evil Cradling" by Brian Keenan which relates his story as a hostage of Shiite militiamen in Beirut for four and a half years. It discusses how his persuasive style invites the reader into this story: To the scene, to the feelings and to a world of inner strength from which Brian Keenan's survival in a world of terror and violence comes. It shows how the book is an heartening and stimulating experience and how in the face of utter fear and despair the human psyche has mechanisms such as humor and warmth for a fellow human being, which sustain us. It looks at how Keenan's sanity was retained by his ability to retreat into his mind-his thoughts and dreams gave strength and is ability to step outside of himself and the situation and become an observer, attempting to understand but refusing to let his mind become part of it.

From the Paper
"Keenan deliberates that to be truly humanized it is necessary to share his experience honestly with another person. He sees that this means in its entirety, including the thoughts, which trouble him and the irrational musings. When madness hovers, created by fear, it is the imaginings of the mind that saves McCarthy but only as Keenan leads him through an experience of imagining a room and the minute details of all it contains. Humor is a way of distancing themselves from the violence- after the particularly savage beating of Keenan by Abed they resort to humor as a way of keeping control. They identify the guard Saafi as having something that makes him human- a sense of humor."

Tags:spirituality, terrorism, mccarthy, torture