The Best Kind of American: A True Story of Murder, War, and America's Undoing in the Middle East
Kim Ghattas presents *The Best Kind of American*, a true-crime account of one family’s decades-long effort to understand the 1984 assassination of Malcolm Kerr, president of the American University of Beirut. Kerr was killed outside his office amid Lebanon’s nine-year civil war, the aftermath of the Iranian Revolution, Palestinian guerrilla warfare, the 1982 Israeli invasion, and the bombing of the U.S. Marines’ barracks. With no meaningful investigation at the time, the identities and motives behind the murder remain only partly resolved.
Ghattas connects the Kerr family’s search for answers to the broader history of Beirut and the Middle East, including its warlords and peacemakers, Hezbollah’s hostage-taking, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, and the American administrations from Reagan through Trump. She also examines how people and policies that emerged from the Beirut conflict shaped the region for decades. Ghattas will discuss the book with Joby Warrick.
When: Saturday, October 17, 2026, at 3:00 p.m.
Showtimes: The event begins at 3:00 p.m. No end time or run time is provided.
Tickets: Free admission, with first-come, first-served seating.
Featured author: Kim Ghattas is a Middle East expert, author, and Emmy Award-winning journalist. She contributes to *The Atlantic* and *The Financial Times* and regularly appears on CNN, MSNBC, and NPR. Her previous books include *Black Wave*, a notable account of the Saudi-Iran rivalry, and *The Secretary: A Journey with Hillary Clinton from Beirut to the Heart of American Power*, a *New York Times* bestseller. She previously reported for the BBC from the Middle East and Washington, D.C., and divides her time between Beirut and writing locations around the world.
Conversation partner: Joby Warrick is a bestselling author, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, and national security correspondent for *The Washington Post*. His reporting covers Middle East conflicts, terrorism, and nuclear proliferation. He is the author of three narrative nonfiction books, including *Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS*, which won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize.
Book: The featured book is *The Best Kind of American: A True Story of Murder, War, and America’s Undoing in the Middle East*, published in hardcover on October 13, 2026.
Ages: No age restriction is listed.
Accessibility: Requests for accommodations and accessibility questions should be sent to events@politics-prose.com, ideally at least one week before the event. The bookstore will make an effort to accommodate requests made up to the event time.
Venue: Politics and Prose at 5015 Connecticut Avenue NW, 5015 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008.
Category: Nonfiction.