{"product_id":"9781943075423","title":"The Moment Before: A Novel","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAmerica’s global ambitions are reduced to one father, his daughter, and the two men who seek to reunite them.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe unflinching story of an American-Arab’s life in limbo.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTricked by the two people closest to him, Elias Haddad leaves his beloved daughter Cheryl Halia for what he believes is a short trip home to Syria to visit his dying father. Largely ignorant of Middle East politics, Elias is detained upon arrival in Damascus and conscripted into Assad’s army, beginning a forty-year geopolitical odyssey from hell which culminates in his captivity in Guantanamo during America’s post-9\/11 War on Terror.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn her search for her father, Cheryl meets John Veranda, an idealistic lawyer who risks his family’s land, his marriage, and his aspirations for his hometown’s future for a relationship with Cheryl neither are prepared for.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eStuart Eisenstat, a dedicated federal bureaucrat, thinks he’s doing an old friend a favor when he picks John’s hometown as the perfect site for relocating Guantanamo detainees only to come face to face with the personal cost of America’s global ambitions.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs the author of both fiction and non-fiction, and the winner of 2017 Independent Publishers IPPY GOLD and 2016 Foreword Reviews INDIE SILVER, Jason Makansi’s writing has been praised as “immensely readable,” “entertaining, enlightening, and essential,” and “relevant to today’s political and cultural environment.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Amphorae Publishing Group, LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47052442108144,"sku":"9781943075423","price":16.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781943075423_p0.jpg?v=1763757041","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781943075423","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}