The Tribalist

When reporter Frank DiRaimo is assigned to the State Department in the Spring of 2000, he finds that for the first time in his career he must write about something he doesn’t understand. The more he learns about the “Oslo peace process” between the Israelis and the Palestinians, the less sense it makes. But he has no idea that within two years his growing personal involvement in the conflict will change his life profoundly.

Frank, a Vietnam veteran, is of the old school. He sees no more need for journalistic “balance” than Edward R. Murrow showed for the Germans during the Blitz. His blunt and impassioned support for Israel during the terror war of 2000-2005 puts him at odds with his bosses and drives a wedge between himself and those closest to him. But he finds a new friend—and possible lover—in Lieutenant Colonel Dahlia Tamir, an Israeli army psychologist whose passion for peace prompts her to make a terrible, tragic mistake.

Cynthia Ozick says: “A brave novel will decline to neuter itself by the unworthy yet commonplace belief that the purpose of political fiction is to ‘understand’ hatred. Louis Marano has given us a consummately brave novel.”