acknowledgments

The creation of this book was hugely collaborative. An enormous thank you to the following:

Natasha Afana, for her thorough feedback and ongoing, loving support of this project.

Scott Reiling, not only for his thoughtful and consistent edits of the manuscript, but for encouraging Anas to write his memoir—it was more than worth it.

Anas’s children, Nader and Danah, for their testimonies, feedback, and moral support.

Mohammed Afana, for his interview on his experiences as a diplomat and the geopolitical climate, and for every one of his stories, especially the one about his childhood and his testimony of the Nakba.

Siham Afana, for giving us excellent information and details about events.

Amelia Reiling, for getting the project off the ground and editing throughout the process.

Samantha Joy, our guide throughout the journey of finalizing and publishing the book, for her wisdom, encouragement, and support.

Kathryn Galán, for her crucial developmental edits, copy editing, and formatting the book for publication.

Issam Affaneh, for his beautiful insights.

Heather Bellow, for toning down the flowery stuff and helping with the better beginning.

Wayne Rasmussen, for copyrighting the content and giving us great feedback.

Anas’s good friends, for their beautiful testimonies of him: Tony Buccheri and Maurizio Gagliolo.

Brandi Nowak Dalton, for her support and investment in this book.

The talented dentist and artist Trent Tobler, for the gorgeous portrait.

Pixel Studios for cover design.

James Hetfield, Ace of Base, and Beyonce Knowles Carter, for getting us through the difficult and the surreal.

And thank you to the Universe, for doing its thing.