New York Times Columnist to Discuss His Latest Book

New York Times Columnist to Discuss His Latest Book

BY MICHAEL CINELLI
Rice News Staff
April 29, 1999

When Thomas Friedman writes, government and business leaders around the world
pay close attention.

Twice the New York Times foreign affairs columnist has earned the Pulitzer
Prize for International Reporting–in 1983 while stationed in Lebanon and in
1988 when he was based in Israel.

Ten years ago, Friedman’s book of reflections on his Middle East experiences,
"From Beirut to Jerusalem" (FSG), remained on the New York Times bestseller
list for 12 months. It won the 1989 National Book Award for nonfiction and the
1989 Overseas Press Club Award for the best book on foreign policy.

On May 12, Friedman will visit Rice University to talk about his latest literary
venture–a book on globalization, "The Lexus and the Olive Tree" (FSG),
which is already receiving favorable reviews from publications such as Business
Week and the New York Times Book Review.

Friedman will speak at 6 p.m. in James A. Baker III Hall. A book signing will
follow. The event is open to Rice students, faculty and staff. It is sponsored
by Rice’s James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy.

"Tom Friedman is an award-winning journalist because of his superb analytic
skills that go beyond the daily headlines," said Baker Institute Director
Edward Djerejian. "When I was in government dealing with the press and
with Middle East issues, we had the opportunity to work together in a professional
manner which, I believe, exemplified how both the government and the press can
learn from one another. We are very happy to host Tom’s presentation here on
globalization, which has been a recurring theme in the institute’s various programs."

The theme of the book and its title are captured in a pivotal anecdote in which
Friedman describes the modern day clash of the human drive for prosperity and
modernization against the pull of relationships and community.

In 1992, Friedman visited the Lexus luxury-car factory outside Toyota City
in Japan. Back then, 66 humans and 310 robots were making 300 sedans a day.
Then, while riding the bullet train back to Tokyo, he read an article about
the latest furor between the Arabs and Israelis.

"It struck me then that the Lexus and the olive tree were actually pretty
good symbols of this post-Cold War era: Half the world seemed to be emerging
from the Cold War intent on building a better Lexus, dedicated to modernizing,
streamlining and privatizing their economies in order to thrive in the system
of globalization," Friedman writes in the book. "And half the world–sometimes
half the same country, sometimes half the same person–was still caught up in
the fight over who owns the olive tree."

Friedman graduated from Brandeis University in 1975 with a degree in Mediterranean
Studies. During his undergraduate years, he spent semesters abroad at the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem and the American University in Cairo.

He received a master’s degree in Modern Middle East Studies from Oxford University
in 1978 and joined the London bureau of United Press International.

Friedman was hired by the New York Times in 1981 as a general assignments financial
reporter specializing in OPEC and oil-related news. In 1982, he was named Beirut
bureau chief, a post he took up six weeks before the Israeli invasion of Lebanon.
In June 1984, he became Israel bureau chief and moved to Jerusalem.

He has also served as the paper’s chief diplomatic, White House and international
economics correspondent.