WALK LIKE AN EGYPTIAN: How a Burnt-Out Middle-Aged American Rejoined the Human Race while living among the People of Egypt during their Historic Revolution

In the aftermath of 9/11 and amidst the beginning of the anti-Muslim sentiment that ensued, I was determined to find out just exactly what was going on in the Middle East, to discover for myself the truth behind the Arab culture and the Muslim faith. So, after much soul-searching, I decided to head off for a long sabbatical in the Middle East. I had just finished up a decade's worth of single fathering and finding myself on my own again for the first time in decades, I was feeling burnt-out, lost, and confused.

I set off for Egypt, arriving mere months before the revolution broke out that shook the world. As the country rocked and reeled through unprecedented turmoil, I found myself in the center of a dramatic upheaval. In the midst of it all, I found I was inadvertently becoming bonded to the Egyptian people and their struggle. After an interminable period of being shut down as a human being, I found that in Egypt, I was finally beginning to feel more alive again. Meanwhile, my experiences up close and personal with Islam, were proving to be entirely different than what they had been purported to be in the media.

My journey of living in Egypt lasted for just over 3 years. But it led to unique discoveries of not only the land, people and religion, but profound discoveries about myself. This story, part travel odyssey/ part memoir, is the adventure of one man who embarks on a journey into the heart of the Middle East, deeply immersing himself in the culture of an oft misunderstood people.  What he finds while there is an unexpected treasure. It is a story set against the tumultuous backdrop of a country passing through a time of historic revolution and change. And yet, just as they pass through a time that will never again leave them the same, he comes through the experience a transformed person.