Audiobooks Narrated by Thomas L. Friedman

The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization

As the Foreign Affairs columnist for The New York Times, Thomas L. Friedman has traveled to the four corners of the globe, interviewing people from all walks of contemporary life -- peasants in the Amazon rain forest, new entrepreneurs in Indonesia, Islamic students in Teheran, and the financial wizards on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley. Now Friedman has drawn on his years on the road to produce an engrossing and original look at the new international system that, more than anything else, is shaping world affairs today: globalization. His argument can be summarized quite simply. Globalization is not just a phenomenon and not just a passing trend. It is the international system that replaced the Cold War system. Globalization is the integration of capital, technology and information across national borders, in a way that is creating a single global market and to some degree, a global village. You cannot understand the morning news or know where to invest you money or think about where the world is going unless you understand this new system, which is influencing the domestic policies and international relations of virtually every country in the world today. And once you do understand the world as Friedman explains it, you'll never look at it quite the same way again. Using original terms and concepts -- from "The Electronic Herd" to "DOScapital 6.0" -- Friedman shows us how to see this new system. With vivid stories, he dramatizes the conflict of "The Lexus and the Olive Tree" -- the tension between the globalization system and ancient forms of culture, geography, tradition and community -- and spells out what we all need to do to keep this system in balance. Finding the proper balance between the Lexus and the olive tree is the great drama of the globilization era, and the ultimate theme of Friedman's challenging, provocative book -- essential listening for all who care about how the world really works.

Thomas L. Friedman (Author), Thomas L. Friedman (Narrator)

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From Beirut to Jerusalem

In From Beirut to Jerusalem, Thomas L. Friedman of The New York Times, author of The Lexus and the Olive Tree, has drawn on his decade in the Middle East to produce the most trenchant, vivid, and thought-provoking book yet on the region. No issue in international politics has been more hotly debated than the Arab-Israeli conflict. And no reporter has illuminated both the conflict and the rhythms of life in the Middle East with more immediacy and brilliance than Tom Friedman, twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize for international reporting. Extremism, terrorism, fundamentalism on right and left, Friedman puts all the operative currents into perspective with an inimitable specificity and clarity. On Friedman's own remarkable journey from Beirut to Jerusalem, he writes, "This is a book about the people in Beirut and Jerusalem themselves, who were going through remarkably similar identity crises. Each was caught in a struggle between the new ideas, the new relationships, the new nations they were trying to build for the future, and the ancient memories, ancient passions, and ancient feuds that kept dragging them back into the past." From Beirut to Jerusalem is a major work of reportage, a much needed framework for understanding the Middle East, yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Thomas L. Friedman (Author), Thomas L. Friedman (Narrator)

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Longitudes and Attitudes: Exploring the World After September 11

America's leading observer of the international scene on the minute-by-minute events of September 11th--before, during and after.

Thomas L. Friedman (Author), Thomas L. Friedman (Narrator)

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