The Friends Whose Names I'll Never Know

by Todd Culp

New Edition Now Available! Todd Culp, Ph.D, is a professor of political science and history who has studied terrorism in violent conflict zones from the Middle East to Southeast Asia to Europe. He uses the stories of his travels in conflict zones to bring real world examples to Whiskey with Freedom Fighters, Tea with Terrorists, and the Journey Home . He began traveling to the Middle East in 1993 during the first Palestinian Uprising. While he lived in the West Bank, he was able to interview militant groups such as the Islamic Jihad and Hamas in an attempt to better understand the violence that swirled around him. Since then he's moved on to places like Southeast Asia where a terrorist group bombed his hotel and beheaded a group of tourists as well as places like Ireland where he interviewed Irish Republican Army (IRA) members such as an assassin who'd been sentenced to 284 years in prison. In addition to his research and teaching, he still spends time working with peace activists to stand against the regular violence of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and occasionally leads the Educational Tours into the conflict zones to bring the reality of this fighting home.  

112 pages, Paperback

First published August 10, 2010

Reviews

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Todd Culp writes a very important book. After years of service in Israel/Palestine, he makes it his mission as a person to tell the heroic and tragic stories he heard. As an author, Culp delivers a readable text to help the public understand the often-misconstrued conflict better. The book digs deep into human conflict and it's motivations through stories that bring you to emphasize with the good people in a war-torn country. It's one I'd recommend to, or force on, anyone whose understanding of Israel/Palestine goes no further than bits of news coverage.

[Sara Powell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book does not appear to be a difficult one in terms of length or of decoding the written language.
It is, however, a difficult book to read in terms of content:
It will challenge what you think you know about conflict;
It will challenge what you think you know about the conflict in the Middle East;
It will challenge what you think you know about the phenomenon of racial and ethnic profiling;
It will challenge what you think you know about over-policing.
Above all, this work will challenge you to ask about the stories that are not being told.

[David Kranenburg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Todd Culp is my political science and International Relations professor. His aptitude for story telling and the personal view of the stories told in this book are amazing. It gives much needed content on The Israeli occupation for Americans. Even though I had to read this for class, I'd read it again and again. I adore it and It's still so relevant.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

He was my political science teacher in college, so may have a different opinion on it, but it was a interesting read. Was hard to read, but informative on the hardships of a nation of people.

[Sarah Toth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've never been interested in history or politics and I actually enjoyed reading this book! The stories were sad, yet gripping and sheds light on so much currently happening in the Middle East that we are not aware of in the United States. The book includes short tails of many heroic Israelis and Palestinians amidst major conflict in the Middle East and how many are putting down their weapons and coming together in the interest of peace.

[Dylan Sperry · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!