Stranger In The Desert: A Family Story,New

Inspired by family lore, a young writer embarks on an epic quest through the Argentine Andes in search of a heritage spanning hemispheres and centuries, from the Jewish Levant to turnofthecentury trade routes in South AmericaOne Thanksgiving afternoon at his grandparents house, Jordan Salama discovers a large binder stuffed with yellowing papers and old photographsa fivehundredyear wandering history of his ArabJewish family, from Moorish Spain to Ottoman Syria to Argentina and beyond.One story in particular captures his attention: that of his greatgrandfather, a Syrianborn, Arabicspeaking Jewish immigrant to Argentina who in the 1920s worked as a traveling salesman in the Andesand may have left behind forgotten descendants along the way. Encouraged by his grandfather, Jordan goes in search of these Lost Salamas, traveling more than a thousand miles up the spine of South Americas greatest mountain range.Combining travelog, history, memoir, and reportage, Stranger in the Desert transports readers from the lonely plains of Patagonia to the breathtaking altiplano of the high Andes; from the old Jewish quarter of Damascus to todays vibrant neighborhoods of Buenos Aires. It is also a fervent journey of selfdiscovery as Salama grapples with his own Jewish, Arab, and Latin American identities, interrogating the stories families tell themselves, and to what end.