A work of historical fiction, Sid Balman’s Seventh Flag traces the arc of a nation through four generations of two very different families that create a unique partnership in a small west Texas town. Jack Laws, an Irish American, and Ali Zarkan, a Syrian Muslim, journey together helps them appreciate the different challenges and choices individuals must make, the importance of family and their common humanity as they fight real and perceived enemies. Balman paints a portrait of complex racial and generational relations that define who we are as Americans.

A Pulitzer-nominated national security correspondent, Balman has covered wars in the Persian Gulf, Somalia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Kosovo, and has traveled extensively with two American presidents and four secretaries of state on overseas diplomatic missions. Now working on the business side of communications for the last two decades he has helped found an online news outlet, served as a chief of communications for the largest consortium of U.S. international development organizations, led two successful progressive campaigning companies, and launched a new division centered on security issues at a large global development firm.