Friel has written Setting the Record Straight About Global Warming, (Yale University Press, 2010, ISBN 978-0300161038), a critique of Bjørn Lomborg's books The Skeptical Environmentalist and The Skeptical Environmentalist's Guide to Global Warming.

Friel has co-authored Israel-Palestine on Record: How the New York Times Misreports Conflict in the Middle East with Richard Falk (Verso, 2007).

Friel has co-authored The Record of the Paper: How the New York Times Misreports US Foreign Policy with Richard Falk (Verso, 2004, ISBN 978-1844670192).

In 1995, Friel edited Guns and the Constitution: The Myth of Second Amendment Protection for Firearms in America with Dennis Henigan.