Dave Eggers returns to his journalistic roots with this nonfiction account of one family's surreal experiences in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Abdulrahman Zeitoun is a Syrian immigrant who seems to epitomize the American dream. In 2005, he was running his own successful business while raising four children with his wife, Kathy, an American who converted to Islam. When Katrina hit, Zeitoun's home and business sustained serious damage, but they were salvageable, and he chose to remain in the city to protect them. He found himself paddling a canoe through the eerie silence of the flooded streets of the city, lending a hand to various people in need whenever possible. Then, he vanished.