Longitudes and Attitudes: Exploring the World After September 11 by Thomas L. FriedmanMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
This book felt like two, disparate parts: A compilation from his New York Times columns and then a travelogue of encountering people in Saudi Arabia reacting to his writing. The first part I found very uninteresting. The columns I found poor; the snarky and jokey attitude and multiple mock letters seemed to trivialize and provided not real insight. They were not illustrative or enlightening, at all. I would give that two stars as its own book. I would give four stars to the second half where Friedman reported his interactions with ruling class and middle class Saudis hindered by their beliefs that "Jews run everything" in America and their own cultural issues resulting in unemployed, bigoted males and a feeling that Israel is diabolical and Palestinians scapegoats that can do no wrong. Behind these black and white and unsupportable attitudes, some very intriguing reflection arose, largely in some personal communications beyond the veils that may obscure women of the stripe that will someday lead The Kingdom into a more balanced future.
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