Peter Balakian

This is such a well-written and informative book, covering a period in history which many have barely heard of, if at all.

Certainly I hadn't realised the vastness of the genocide: starting with massacres in the 1890s, the whole Turkish brutality continued until the 1920s, killing some 1.5 million Armenians. As the government moved away from an unstable sultan, and into the hands of the Young Turks, with their aim of creating a pure Turkish nation, we see the first 'ethnic cleansing'. show more Horrific killings, rapes and torture, alongside starvation and disease - interestingly witnessed (and largely condoned) by the German allies of Turkey in WWI - these would surely be the precursor to the later Jewish Holocaust. Many remaining Armenians were taken out in filthy railway cars and left to die in the Syrian desert...

The author doesn't just focus on events in Turkey, however, but simultaneously considers the American response to these events. The huge response to the 1890s atrocities "commenced what I believe can be called the modern era of American international human rights relief". Led by missionaries, the Red Cross and money-raising efforts, this was succeeded by another massive effort in 1915 - this time more government led.

Yet Balakian winds up by considering why it is that this horrific period in history has become largely forgotten - indeed denied by the Turkish perpetrators. Throughout the book he provides massive evidence for the genocide: not just from Armenian witnesses but politicians, missionaries, travellers who saw it - even Turks themselves, in secret letters of the time where government ordered the extermination of the race, or at the (spectacularly unsuccessful) post War trials. He looks at the importance of remaining on good terms with Turkey because of its position: near Russia and the Middle East, and how its threats whenever USA was about to acknowledge the genocide still cause it to back down. He even provides evidence that Turkey has paid professors in top American universities to help it 'sanitize its past.'

An important and very readable work with a large bibliography and some b/w photos show less

Published in 1997, this book is Peter Balakian’s memoir of his time growing up in New Jersey in the 1950s-1970. It relates how he eventually traced his family’s tragic stories that occurred during the Armenian genocide in Turkey in 1915. He grew up mostly unaware of his family’s experiences. His older relatives had been reluctant to discuss the past, believing young people should be shielded from these harsh realities, and Balakian had only some hints that unsettled him. He eventually show more read a book about the massacre of Armenians in Turkey, written by the American Ambassador to the Ottomon Empire, Henry Morgenthau. He also obtained family legal documents that shed light on what had happened to his ancestors.

The first half of the book is focused on the author’s early interactions with his grandmother. They live in suburban neighborhood, and bond over a shared love of baseball. She tells him stories, one of which is a parable about the titular black dog, and says, “Appearances are deceiving. The world is not what you think.” Balakian selects episodes that illustrate his family’s preservation of the Armenian culture.

There are a number of literary references in this work – Armenian authors and artists – as well as Armenian cuisine and religion. He confronts genocide deniers. He links the Armenian genocide to what happened later in Nazi Germany and addresses the dangers of nationalistic thinking – an issue we still deal with today.

It is beautifully written. Balakian is a distinguished poet, and it shows in his writing. A few poems relating to his heritage are included. I was expecting that the author would have travelled to the region, but if he did, it is not part of this memoir. show less

Published in 1997, this book is Peter Balakian’s memoir of his time growing up in New Jersey in the 1950s-1970. It relates how he eventually traced his family’s tragic stories that occurred during the Armenian genocide in Turkey in 1915. He grew up mostly unaware of his family’s experiences. His older relatives had been reluctant to discuss the past, believing young people should be shielded from these harsh realities, and Balakian had only some hints that unsettled him. He eventually show more read a book about the massacre of Armenians in Turkey, written by the American Ambassador to the Ottomon Empire, Henry Morgenthau. He also obtained family legal documents that shed light on what had happened to his ancestors.

The first half of the book is focused on the author’s early interactions with his grandmother. They live in suburban neighborhood, and bond over a shared love of baseball. She tells him stories, one of which is a parable about the titular black dog, and says, “Appearances are deceiving. The world is not what you think.” Balakian selects episodes that illustrate his family’s preservation of the Armenian culture.

There are a number of literary references in this work – Armenian authors and artists – as well as Armenian cuisine and religion. He confronts genocide deniers. He links the Armenian genocide to what happened later in Nazi Germany and addresses the dangers of nationalistic thinking – an issue we still deal with today.

It is beautifully written. Balakian is a distinguished poet, and it shows in his writing. A few poems relating to his heritage are included. I was expecting that the author would have travelled to the region, but if he did, it is not part of this memoir. show less

This story is a slow build, starts with the author's childhood in New Jersey and how his Armenian roots are sprinkled into the background of his personal story for years, until he begins to come to grips with the true story of what happened to his family in 1915 after some members of his family are more forthcoming about what they know, and the documents they possess that are revealed to him. It is compelling, disturbing, and absolutely necessary. I write this twenty five years on from its show more publication date, but that doesn't really matter to the story itself. show less