An allegorical tale set in a nearby dystopian future. John Gershon is mid-rank in his American military career. He receives an unusual assignment to embed with a secretive, indefatigable religious military order in Lebanon known as the Knights of Lebanon, or simply ‘the Order’. The world is different in the 2080s. An insatiable supranational government known as Babylon is homogenizing ideals and cultures throughout the West and is encroaching on the rest of the world. Lebanon was spared from Babylon's tentacles recently thanks to the Order. John finds his new assignment to be completely different from his expectations. The world claims the Knights are to be loathed for their stubbornness and their beliefs. Yet as John lives with the Knights encountering their traditions and customs, as well as combat operations including a harrowing rescue operation, he discovers the Knights possess admirable traits that are lacking in all areas loyal to Babylon and modernity. Over time John is exposed to the initiation course to enter the Order of the Knights known as the 10 Plagues of Egypt. Of which one of the final tasks is to bring one's father to live or be interred in Lebanon before being accepted as a Knight. The Knights make their own beer, learn trades and crafts, and pursue the truth in all that they do. John is ultimately challenged with several major life decisions right before a new Babylonian offensive commences aiming to annihilate Lebanon's sovereignty and to erase the Knights from history. The story is submersed in real historical references, philosophy, and theology playing on ideas of many renowned ancient, medieval, and modern thinkers.

Knights of Lebanon - Matthew Conard