When ... not if

This book is the first volume of a compilation of stories from conflicts in the Middle East written by alumni of the American Community School at Beirut. The idea came out of a discussion on a mailing list of ACS alumni.


Most ACS alumni were teenagers or grade school pupils at the time of their stories, others were faculty or staff. These stories describe their experiences in the Middle East, when they were at ACS, or the dramas of later years.


Being at ACS left no one untouched. Some were there only a short period of time, never to return. A few have come back in later years and some just never left.