Man of the World

Thomas L. Friedman, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and world affairs analyst, will speak at Moravian on Thursday, October 2, for the 20th anniversary of the Cohen Arts and Lectures Series.

His topic is “The Global Economy and U.S. Foreign Policy,” and there will be a question-and-answer session following. His presentation is at 8:00 p.m. in Johnston Hall.

A three-time Pulitzer-winner for his reporting and columns on foreign affairs in the New York Times, Friedman also is the best-selling author of From Beirut to Jerusalem (1989), a history of the contemporary Middle East that is used as a text in many university-level political science courses; and The Lexus and the Olive Tree (2000), about the causes and effects of globalization on the world economy and national cultures. From Beirut won the National Book Award and Overseas Press Club Award.

Friedman, 50, attended Brandeis University and spent semesters abroad at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and the American University in Cairo. He attended Oxford University on a Marshall scholarship and received a master’s degree in 1978. He joined the New York Times in 1981 as a business reporter specializing in OPEC and the oil industry. He was assigned to Lebanon in 1982, just after the Israeli invasion.

He has been the Times’ Israel bureau chief, diplomatic correspondent from Washington, and economics correspondent. In 1995, he became the foreign-affairs columnist on its Op-Ed page. After two Pulitzers for reporting on Israel and Lebanon in 1983 and 1988, he won his third this year for his political and cultural analysis of the world following the events of September 11. His newest book, Longitudes and Attitudes, is a collection of these columns.

The Cohen Arts and Lectures Series was established in 1984 by Bertha ’37 and the late Bernard Cohen. Bertha Cohen is a life trustee of Moravian College.

The series, whose proceeds go to a scholarship fund, has brought in recent years columnist Anna Quindlen, news analyst Andrea Mitchell, environmental activist Joseph P. Kennedy II, former President Jimmy Carter, Governor Mario Cuomo, and other political and cultural figures.

Tickets for Friedman’s lecture are free to students, staff, and faculty of the College and Moravian Theological Seminary. They may be picked up at the HUB desk. For the public, tickets are $10 from 610 861-1336.

Friends of Reeves Library will hold an open house and reception for
members at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, October 2, before Thomas Friedman’s talk.

Not a member? See the link on the Reeves Library homepage.

Student memberships begin at $10, faculty and staff at $35. For this, you’ll get dessert and coffee; for the first 100 askers, a ticket to Friedman; and a chance to browse his books, which are on display near the circulation desk. Information: Kim Demyan, Ext.1542.