Last spring, when Anthony Shadid--one of four "New York Times" reporters captured in Libya as the region erupted--was freed, he went home. Not to Boston, Beirut, or Oklahoma where he was raised by his Lebanese-American family, but to an ancient estate built by his great-grandfather, a place filled with memories of a lost era when the Middle East was a world of grace, grandeur, and unexpected departures. For two years previous, Shadid had worked to reconstruct the house and restore his spirit after both had weathered war. Now the author of the award-winning "Night Draws Near" (National Book Critics Circle Award finalist, Lo"s Angeles Times" Book Prize) tells the story of the house's re-creation, revealing its mysteries and recovering the lives that have passed through it. Shadid juxtaposes past and present as he traces the house's renewal along with his family's flight from Lebanon and resettlement in America. "House of Stone" is an unforgettable memoir of the world's most volatile landscape and the universal yearning for home. AUTHOR: Anthony Shadid, author of Night Draws Near and an unparalleled chronicler of the human stories behind the news, gained attention and awards, including the Pulitzer Prize, for his front page reports in the Washington Post from Iraw. More recently, as Beirut bureau chief for the New York Times, he has covered the revolution in Egypt and the events that are reshaping the Middle East. In 2011, he earned his second Pulitzer. Anthony sadly passed away on February 16, 2012 after suffering an acute asthma attack, due to his severe allergies to horses.