Longitudes and Attitudes: The World in the Age of Terrorism FROM OUR EDITORS
According to Slate, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Thomas L. Friedman is the most important opinion journalist in America. The reason is simple: "Since September 11th, thanks to his [twice-weekly New York Times] column and his numerous TV appearances, Friedman has emerged as the best explainer of how the United States should relate to the Arab, Muslim, and Israeli world." His reputation among media insiders is so secure that Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah used Friedman's column to reveal his Arab-Israeli peace proposal. Longitudes and Attitudes includes not only that headline-making essay but all the post–September 11th pieces that made the author of The Lexus and The Olive Tree so famous. A must-read.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
"Longitudes and Attitudes is made up of the columns Friedman has published about September 11, the most momentous news story of our time, as well as a diary of his private experiences and reflections during his reporting on the post-September 11 world, as the author travels from Afghanistan to Israel to Europe to Indonesia to Saudi Arabia. He talks with the major players in the story and to men and women in bazaars, schools, and alleyways, developing and refining his unique perspective on the new kind of war America finds itself fighting. As Friedman puts it, the book is "not meant to be a comprehensive study of September 11 and all the factors that went into it. Rather, my hope is that it will constitute a 'word album' that captures and preserves the raw, unpolished emotional and analytical responses that illustrate how I, and others, felt as we tried to grapple with September 11 and its aftermath."" Readers have repeatedly said that Friedman has expressed the essence of their own feelings, helping them not only by explaining who "they" are, but also by reassuring us about who "we" are. More than any other journalist writing, Friedman gives voice to America's awakening sense of a radically new world and our own complex place in it.
SYNOPSIS
Longitudes and Attitudes is made up of the columns Friedman has published about September 11, the most momentous news story of our time, as well as a diary of his private experiences and reflections during his reporting on the post-September 11 world, as the author travels from Afghanistan to Israel to Europe to Indonesia to Saudi Arabia.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
"History just took a right turn into a blind alley," comments the New York Times columnist in his latest book, "and something very dear has just been taken away from us." Tackling this observation from many different angles, this lucid book, consisting of Friedman's exceptionally frank and convincing columns and an insightful post-September 11 diary, prods at the questions surrounding that day and offers an invaluable reporter's perspective on the world from outside U.S. borders. The columns, which are the bulk of the book, represent a comprehensive album of the past two years ranging from the usefulness of building a missile shield to analyzing the structure of Arab societies yet they rarely stray from the central theme of promoting thoughtful and measured consideration of the U.S.' role in the world. However, the previously unpublished diary offers the most insight to the state of the world after September 11. Stranded in Israel during the attacks, Friedman ended up traveling throughout the Middle East, discovering how the terrorist attacks affected the region and uncovering many of the roots of anti-American sentiment, which he aptly describes alongside his reflections on watching his daughter's multicultural middle-school chorus sing "God Bless America." Unapologetically pro-American, Friedman's deliberation on what changed on September 11 outside of the U.S. ultimately centers on the strength of American society and our place in the world. (On sale Sept. 4) Forecast: Friedman has become a touchstone for readers trying to understand events of the past year. With a 12-city author tour, this will no doubt, like his previous books, appear on bestseller lists. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
KLIATT - Edna Boardman
The world situation that has developed since the attack on the twin towers comes into powerful focus through this collection of columns written by Friedman, foreign affairs columnist for the New York Times. Each essay, written between January 9, 2001 and April 20, 2003, is two pages long, making Friedman's work more digestible than many political writings. At home in the Middle East, he offers insights that should not fail to engage both foreign policy makers and the informed citizens who struggle as never before to understand what is going on in that troubled area. His thinking is clear: We live in a time when the conflict is between the "World of Order" versus "a small band of super-empowered angry men from the World of Disorder." The 21 Arabic countries of the Middle East, whose gross domestic product put together is about that of Spain, need to get their focus off whom to blame for their plight; their leaders need to excite their people with a cohesive vision for their future that does not include terrorism. The media is being used by formerly powerless persons for immense ill. Leaders, secular and religious, need to see beyond blame and hatreds, secularize their educational systems (where far too many get degrees in Islamic Studies), update their economies, get rid of corruption, figure out a way to bring women into the economic life, overcome pervasive feelings of humiliation, create jobs, and scale back hate talk. Israel must quit building in areas that inflame the Palestinians. The US should have a clear plan for peace in the area. Friedman speaks directly, but he sometimes composes "letters" to persons such as Clinton, Bush, and Osama bin Laden. At the end, he includes alonger essay, "Diary: Travels in a World Without Walls," in which he reiterates his positions and observations. Friedman may not always have it right, but he has seen and spoken with the persons and observed the countries of which he writes. The reader comes away with a feeling that he is someone well worth listening to. KLIATT Codes: SA-Recommended for senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 2002, Random House, Anchor, 399p., Ages 15 to adult.
Library Journal
Foreign affairs columnist for the New York Times, Friedman gathers pieces for what he calls a "word album" of recent events. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
AudioFile
We hear a drumroll, a chorus of trumpets, and then the TIMES foreign affairs columnist reading his pieces about "the biggest single news story in my life." Op ed pieces surrounding the tragedy of September 11 are stitched together with equally lively diary entries. Friedman has a deep, clear voice, which perfectly complements his highly accessible prose. You also know where to add salt. You can hear the glee of a reporter with a big job, as when he quotes this e-mail: "Saudi women need your pen, Mr. Friedman. I read your articles, and they are so powerful and so true." I wouldn't put it that baldly. Nor would I miss this book. B.H.C. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
Sharply pointed, finely delivered observations on world politics and the ongoing war on terrorism, by New York Times columnist Friedman (The Lexus and the Olive Tree, 1999). Yes, the US has angered the Arab world by siding with Israel over the last half century. No, we didn't have it coming. Yes, globalization does entail more than hamburgers and Coca-Cola. No, we're not innocent, but Americans are essentially good and a far sight better than those disaffected Islamists recruited out of European mosques to fly airplanes into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and targets unknown. Expressing these points and others, albeit far more elegantly, Friedman gathers columns from the last two years that are eminently helpful in understanding the great divide yawning between the Western and Arab worlds. The author's roving beat with the New York Times permits him to travel wherever he finds a story, and in his journeys-reported in more depth in the second part of this book, which he calls an "analytical diary"-he turns up a few surprises. He notes, for instance, that in India, home to "the second-largest Muslim community in the world" (surpassed only by Indonesia), Muslims have for the most part been friendly to the US because, he explains, India is a representative democracy, not one of the barbarous, repressive states that rule most of the Islamic world. Though not shy of sword-rattling-he insists that we are now fighting WWIII, even if most of the country seems not to know it-Friedman is also highly critical of the Bush administration for its many failures in explaining American interests to the world and in freeing the nation from the need to do business with Saudi Arabia and company in thefirst place. Controversial, yes. Smart, yes. And essential reading for anyone keeping track on world events over the last year. Author tour
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