Thomas Friedman, a Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times columnist, will speak on globalization and the current state of the Middle East during a speech today at 3:30 p.m. in Kingsbury Hall.
His speech, “The Challenge of Globalization,” will focus on issues discussed in his second book, The Lexus and the Olive Tree, published in 1999.
Director of the Middle Eastern Center Ibrahim Karawan describes himself as a good friend of Friedman. Karawan invited him to the University of Utah more than one year ago.
Karawan said Gov. Mike Leavitt is familiar with his book. He asked his senior staff to read the book to help them know how to continue economic development in Utah, he said. During his stay in Utah, Friedman will be sleeping at the Governor’s Mansion.
After completing his education, he started work for the London Bureau of United Press International were he worked for a year before being assigned to Beirut as a correspondent for the UPI. He lived there until 1981 when he started work for The New York Times.
He has worked as The Times Beirut bureau chief. He was bureau chief in Israel when he received a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship to write a book about the Middle East in 1988.
The book, From Beirut to Jerusalem, stayed on The New York Times Best-Seller List more than 11 months and won him the 1989 National Book Award for non-fiction and the 1989 Overseas Press Club Award for the Best Book on Foreign Policy. Published in 10 different languages, including Japanese and Chinese, his book is now used as a basic textbook on the Middle East in many high schools and universities.
With The Times, he has worked as chief diplomatic correspondent, and chief White House correspondent. He has also worked as international economic correspondent. In 1995, Friedman became The New York Times foreign affairs columnist.
In 1988, Friedman won a Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting?from Israel. In 1993, he won his second Pulitzer in the same category for his reporting in Lebanon.
Friedman lives in Maryland with his wife and two daughters. He serves on the Brandeis University Board of Trustees.