The ongoing problems of the Middle East are complex and difficult to understand. In Beirut to Jerusalem Thomas Friedman uses the different tools to assess the state of affairs in the Middle East. Friedman uses the social sciences to analysis the situation that he observed when he was in Beirut writing for The New York Times. Being that Friedman is Jewish I rode off the book as a one-sided view of the happenings in the Middle East. What I found was quite the opposite; Friedman took a neutral position. Analyzing the situation in the Middle East is by no means an easy thing. There have of course been situations like this in other parts of the world in other times but none have been as complex as this one. Here is a group of people who live in the same region of the world but have so many different religions and cultures that create many conflicts, making it nearly impossible for them to get along. Friedman takes the social sciences of history, geography, sociology/anthropology, psychology and economy to better understand the condition of the Middle East.In the book, Friedman uses history to give us a background of what the situation in Beirut has been so that we better understand what is going on now. His use of biographical information on the persons that make up the historical points helps us to see the differences in culture and religion that started the conflict in the first place. Friedman utilizes these stories, at the same time, to remind us that we are dealing with human lives not just a death count. An example of these humanistic stories is the story of Friedmans apartment and his friend Mohammeds family. The story of the Mohammeds family and the ugly death they all received gives a human point of view that a lot of times the media does not portray. The media focus on the actions of this country bombing this country but never on the human side of the story. Actual people are losing family members. We hear the medi...
