From Beirut to America is the story of a young boy growing up in war-torn Beirut, Lebanon. It’s a coming of age tale that traces the author’s circuitous journey from a country known for bombings, kidnappings and violence to the United States of America, with stop-overs and varied experiences in Paris, France and Helsinki, Finland. It’s an often arduous, risky journey that requires grit, personal perseverance, and creativity. It takes twenty-six years.

This is a story of how the author escapes from the increasingly harrowing and deadly civil war in his homeland of Lebanon and pursues a dream of freedom and opportunity through the power of personal charm, determination, hard work, and relentless ambition. Unique features of this book include a close-knit family that sticks together through thick and thin, with great resilience and courage. This is especially true of the author’s grandmother, mother, and sister. The book includes a generous assortment of photos from key events and contexts within the author’s life, helping readers visualize same. A map of Lebanon is also included so you can get a better feel for the geography of the region.

By publishing the story of his childhood through young adult years and his experiences in travel, culture shock, language learning and the frustrations of job searching in a different country, the author offers readers an opportunity to expand their own perspectives in these areas, and perhaps connect with similar experiences in their own lives or the lives of those they know. How the author gets from Beirut to Finland by air as a visa-less eighteen year-old just before the Beirut airport is bombed out is an adventure in and of itself!