Sociologist Samir Khalaf utilizes scholarly articles and personally conducted interviews to examine Lebanon and its current sociological state of being “adrift,” as the author deems it. Khalaf structures his book by first covering the basic history of the Lebanese war, and then examining different themes of Lebanon's post war state. He begins by examining the current state of Lebanon, stuck between a devastating war that continues to affect the people today, and an uncertain future that none of its people have much confidence in. He then examines the economic turmoil, ethnic conflicts, and terrorism still plaguing the country and exacerbating this feeling of being adrift. He goes on to propose that the Lebanese people attempt to alleviate these feelings of uncertainty through increased lethargy and indifference as a means to protect themselves from the terrors they have and are still experiencing. This is Khalaf's sociological contribution to the field of study on the effects of the Lebanese war. Khalaf concludes the book by looking toward the future and examining how the Lebanese people can still extricate themselves from this state of being adrift by unlearning the detrimental and even destructive behaviors they have adopted. He dedicates the book to his newly born grandson, with the hope that he will see a Lebanon that is a more tolerant, cosmopolitan society in his lifetime.