Some of the countries that first nurtured and characterized Christianity—along the North African Coast and across the Middle East and Arabia—are the ones in which it is likely to first go extinct. In just the past few decades, Christians have largely fled the lands where their prophets wandered, where Jesus Christ preached, and where the fathers of the early church established the doctrinal norms that would last millennia. Chronicling a time of turbulence, Janine di Giovanni recounts poignant and harrowing stories of life in such locales as Syria, Egypt, and Gaza.

"It's refreshing to hear from a correspondent who participated in, rather than merely observed, one of the most fundamental aspects of life in the Middle East: religious practice…. Di Giovanni does Middle Eastern Christians a service by highlighting their recent struggles."—Wall Street Journal