Overview

"Between 1915 and 1923, over one million Armenians died, victims of a genocidal campaign that is still denied by the Turkish government. Thousands of other Armenians suffered torture, brutality, deportation. Yet their story has received scant attention. Through interviews with a hundred elderly Armenians, Donald and Lorna Miller give the ""forgotten genocide"" the hearing it deserves. Survivors raise important issues about genocide and about how people cope with traumatic experience. Much here is wrenchingly painful, yet it also speaks to the strength of the human spirit."

Full Product Details

9780520219564

Table of Contents

Reviews

The Millers . . . do not attempt to distance themselves from their material and do not conceal their involvement with the survivors. Yet they are fair in their judgments and do not suppress evidence of the humanity and kindness to the Armenians of many Turks who opposed the deportation and bloodshed. . . . Provides additional evidence, if such is needed, of one of the greatest tragedies of modern history. --Firoz Kazemzadeh, New York Times Book Review

"""The Millers . . . do not attempt to distance themselves from their material and do not conceal their involvement with the survivors. Yet they are fair in their judgments and do not suppress evidence of the humanity and kindness to the Armenians of many Turks who opposed the deportation and bloodshed. . . . Provides additional evidence, if such is needed, of one of the greatest tragedies of modern history.""--Firoz Kazemzadeh, ""New York Times Book Review"

The first genocide of the 20th century took place in Turkey in 1915 when some 1.5 million Armenians were deported from their birthplace and massacred. Here, the Millers (he: Sociology/University of Southern California; she: Director/Office for Creative Connections, All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena) have collected more than one hundred oral histories from survivors of the atrocities. Their testimony, organized thematically, is shocking and poignant. The various eyewitness accounts show how Armenians, believing that they were being deported only temporarily, went docilely to their fates. Men were shot or brutally murdered by hatchets and axes. Women and children died mostly from attrition, as guards denied them water and as they starved during the hundreds of miles of enforced marches. The survivors speak of rotting corpses and babies' skeletons strewn along their path. Mothers faced terrible choices about which children to save; ware raped as their children watched; saw their daughters abducted by Turks and Kurds. The authors point out that the Turkish government continues to deny that the Armenian genocide took place, even though the scrupulously presented paper evidence here - missionaries' eyewitness reports, letters from diplomats on the scene, official government accounts, etc. - corroborates the oral testimony. As welcome relief, the Millers also include examples of kindness by a few good Turks who risked their lives to help deportees, as well as touching scenes of rehabilitations in orphanages and at family reunions. A valuable contribution to the growing literature on the Armenian genocide. (Kirkus Reviews)

Author Information

Donald E. Miller is Professor of Religion at the University of Southern California and the author of Reinventing American Protestantism: Christianity in the New Millennium (California, 1997). Lorna Touryan Miller is Director of the Office for Creative Connections at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, California. Her parents survived the Armenian genocide.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available