Overview

How has the distinctive Armenian-American community expressed its identity as an ethnic minority while ‘assimilating’ to life in the United States? This book examines the role of community leaders and influencers, including clergy, youth organizers, and partisan newspaper editors, in fostering not only a sense of Armenian identity but specific ethnic-partisan leanings within the group’s population. Against the backdrop of key geopolitical events from the aftermath of the Armenian Genocide to the creation of an independent and then Soviet Armenia, it explores the rivalry between two major Armenian political parties, the Tashnags and the Ramgavars, and the relationship that existed between partisan leaders and their broader constituency. Rather than treating the partisan conflict as simply an impediment to Armenian unity, Benjamin Alexander examines the functional if accidental role that it played in keeping certain community institutions alive. He further analyses the two camps as representing two conflicting visions of how to be an ethnic group, drawing a comparison between the sociology-of-religion models of comfort religion and challenge religion. A detailed political and social history, this book integrates the Armenian experience into the broader and more familiar narratives of World War I, World War II, and the Cold War in the USA.

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9780755648818

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Reviews

Alexander’s exposition of the tensions within the community as well as those elements that united it—in particular, social ties and the memory of the genocide committed by the Ottoman Turkey—is deft and accessible. This book will serve as an excellent advanced introduction in courses on Armenian, ethnic, and diasporic studies. * CHOICE * A serious and deeply researched investigation into the Armenian presence in the United States. It answered many questions I have had about who we were and how we Armenians have made our way as an immigrant population in America. Ben Alexander's book gave me fresh insight into the lives of my grandparents. * Eric Bogosian, Author of Operation Nemesis: The Secret Plot that Avenged the Armenian Genocide (2015), USA * In this compelling contribution to ethnic studies, twentieth-century Armenian American history comes to life in all its hues and shades. Alexander’s incisive exploration of the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of Armenians in the United States is a must-read for those interested in identity and culture in America. * Khatchig Mouradian, Columbia University, USA *

A serious and deeply researched investigation into the Armenian presence in the United States. It answered many questions I have had about who we were and how we Armenians have made our way as an immigrant population in America. Ben Alexander's book gave me fresh insight into the lives of my grandparents. * Eric Bogosian, Author of Operation Nemesis: The Secret Plot that Avenged the Armenian Genocide (2015), USA *

Author Information

Benjamin F. Alexander is Adjunct Associate Professor at New York City College of Technology, Brooklyn. He is the author of Coxey’s Army: Popular Protest in the Gilded Age (2015) and The New Deal’s Forest Army: How the Civilian Conservation Corps Worked (2018).

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