FROM BEIRUT TO JERUSALEM

Friedman, the NEW YORK TIMES columnist now best known for his book on globalization, THE WORLD IS FLAT, was a correspondent in Lebanon and Israel in the tumultuous 1980s. This production is an abridgment of his book about those years, with the focus on his personal adventures rather than political analysis. Friedman tells compelling stories, but his narration is oddly detached. He relates how he watched a man being kidnapped, how his apartment was bombed, and a host of other harrowing events with the same glibness he uses to spin humorous anecdotes. It's not that he writes without compassion, only that one doesn't hear it in his voice. D.B. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine [Published: JUN/ JUL 07]