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As air strikes carpeted Yemen's capital, Sam Farran, a Muslim American who had immigrated from Lebanon at an early age and spent thirty years serving his adopted country in the US Marine Corps, was one of only two Americans in the war-ravaged country. They were there as "contractors" to conduct security assessments for a variety of international firms. Days after their arrival, they were brutally seized, separated and taken hostage by Houthi rebels. Sam would spend the next six months suffering a horrific ordeal that would test his endurance, his loyalty and his very soul.
Every day his Muslim captors asked him as a fellow Muslim to betray America, and to turn against what he had been for three decades -- a proud Marine -- in exchange for his freedom. Would he give in to the Houthis in exchange for freedom and a return to his Middle Eastern, tribal roots? In the end, despite the daily threats to his life, Sam found the strength to resist and came out of his experience no longer a man of two countries, but rather an American.
The Tightening Dark is an intimate, riveting and inspiring memoir of heroic strength, courage, survival and commitment to country. And a reminder that the best parts of the American dream are the dreamers -- those who pledge to being American, regardless of where they are born.