Anthony Shadid, House of Stone: A Memoir of Home, Family, and a Lost Middle East (New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012).

Just weeks prior to the publication of “House of Stone,” Pulitzer-prize winning New York Times foreign correspondent Anthony Shadid died on February 16, 2012 of an apparent asthma attack while on a reporting assignment in eastern Syria.

Tow Pulitzers says a lot about the writing ability, integrity and character of Anthony Shadid. He has been a trusted source for information on the Middle East. His accurate reporting and his willingness to take risks to get the story were well established before he took time to write a more personal book about his family history, family home, and how he discovered his roots. The book is a report of the year that he took off to restore a family home in Lebanon. As he reports on his year, he also teaches a great deal about the dynamics of Lebanon and how it fits into the wider puzzle of the Middle East.

The book is a captivating story that helped me understand how a young man from Oklahoma could find himself more at home in Marjayoun, Lebanon than any other place in the world. It is a powerful piece of writing and we are fortunate that the book was completed and that the publisher was able to bring it out so that we could learn more of a man whose life journey is now complete, but whose story will last for generations.