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A remarkable memoir... A moving examination of the complex forces of ethnicity, nationality and history that shape one's sense of self and foster, threaten or fray the fragile tapestry of community. --Kirkus Reviews (starred review) In this courageous and candid memoir, Meline Toumani reflects on what it really means--and does not mean--to come into the inheritance of a tragic past; on the complex feelings involved in confronting a historical enemy and Other; and on what we owe--and do not owe--to our collective identities, and what to ourselves. Writing with precise insight and wit, Toumani addresses issues that weave through traumatic histories everywhere, and that continue to concern us all. --Eva Hoffman, author of After Such Knowledge: Memory, History and the Legacy of the Holocaust Meline Toumani has written an unusual book: courageous, intriguing, and at moments, despite its subject, unexpectedly funny. And her determination to understand and put behind her a century of hatred has echoes for more peoples than just Turks and Armenians. --Adam Hochschild, author of To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918 I read Meline Toumani's original and audacious book with admiration, first for the grainy pleasures of her narrative--the raw energy of true encounters--and perhaps even more for her nerve and seriousness in trying, as an Armenian-American woman, to find a path between the often-self-defeating absolutism of her own Armenian community and the Orwellian evasions of most contemporary Turks when asked to acknowledge the plain act of long-ago genocide in plain language. --Michael J. Arlen, author of Passage to Ararat Meline Toumani's inspiring book cuts through the fog of politics surrounding the Armenian genocide with honesty, intelligence, and humanity. I was very impressed by the charm, humor, and bravery she displays in her relationships with Turks from all sides of the political spectrum, as well as her willingness to examine the assumptions of her fellow diaspora Armenians. --Ruth Franklin, author of A Thousand Darknesses: Lies and Truth in Holocaust Fiction Meline Toumani's beautifully rendered memoir is a powerful reminder of how family histories can constrain as much as they enhance our understanding of the world. This is a remarkable, vital, and perhaps above all courageous investigation into history, culture, and the human heart. --Dinaw Mengestu, author of All Our Names This is a brave book, deeply intelligent and elegantly readable, providing a much needed fresh point of view. Anyone genuinely interested in the relations between Armenians and Turks, a subject that continues to be clouded by politics, must read it. In a meticulous, clarifying, and highly informed accounting, Toumani gives a personal perspective on the hate-filled relationship that persists between those Armenians who insist that the genocide be recognized and those Turks who adamantly deny the historical truth of the genocide. I could not put it down. --Eric Bogosian, author of Operation Nemesis This deft combination of political and personal narrative is an attempt to cross one of the modern world's most sensitive divides. With warmth and feeling, it shows why so many people and nations are imprisoned by the past, and what can happen when they set themselves free. --Stephen Kinzer, author of Crescent and Star: Turkey Between Two Worlds

A remarkable memoir... A moving examination of the complex forces of ethnicity, nationality and history that shape one's sense of self and foster, threaten or fray the fragile tapestry of community. --Kirkus Reviews (starred review) In this courageous and candid memoir, Meline Toumani reflects on what it really means--and does not mean--to come into the inheritance of a tragic past; on the complex feelings involved in confronting a historical enemy and Other; and on what we owe--and do not owe--to our collective identities, and what to ourselves. Writing with precise insight and wit, Toumani addresses issues that weave through traumatic histories everywhere, and that continue to concern us all. --Eva Hoffman, author of After Such Knowledge: Memory, History and the Legacy of the Holocaust Meline Toumani has written an unusual book: courageous, intriguing, and at moments, despite its subject, unexpectedly funny. And her determination to understand and put behind her a century of hatred has echoes for more peoples than just Turks and Armenians. --Adam Hochschild, author of To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918 I read Meline Toumani's original and audacious book with admiration, first for the grainy pleasures of her narrative--the raw energy of true encounters--and perhaps even more for her nerve and seriousness in trying, as an Armenian-American woman, to find a path between the often-self-defeating absolutism of her own Armenian community and the Orwellian evasions of most contemporary Turks when asked to acknowledge the plain act of long-ago genocide in plain language. --Michael J. Arlen, author of Passage to Ararat Meline Toumani's inspiring book cuts through the fog of politics surrounding the Armenian genocide with honesty, intelligence, and humanity. I was very impressed by the charm, humor, and bravery she displays in her relationships with Turks from all sides of the political spectrum, as well as her willingness to examine the assumptions of her fellow diaspora Armenians. --Ruth Franklin, author of A Thousand Darknesses: Lies and Truth in Holocaust Fiction Meline Toumani's beautifully rendered memoir is a powerful reminder of how family histories can constrain as much as they enhance our understanding of the world. This is a remarkable, vital, and perhaps above all courageous investigation into history, culture, and the human heart. --Dinaw Mengestu, author of All Our Names This is a brave book, deeply intelligent and elegantly readable, providing a much needed fresh point of view. Anyone genuinely interested in the relations between Armenians and Turks, a subject that continues to be clouded by politics, must read it. In a meticulous, clarifying, and highly informed accounting, Toumani gives a personal perspective on the hate-filled relationship that persists between those Armenians who insist that the genocide be recognized and those Turks who adamantly deny the historical truth of the genocide. I could not put it down. --Eric Bogosian, author of Operation Nemesis This deft combination of political and personal narrative is an attempt to cross one of the modern world's most sensitive divides. With warmth and feeling, it shows why so many people and nations are imprisoned by the past, and what can happen when they set themselves free. --Stephen Kinzer, author of Crescent and Star: Turkey Between Two Worlds

A deep dive into a vexed history... A profound meditation on tribalism and truth. -- Elle Extraordinary. -- Vogue An engaging and deeply personal exploration of ethnicity, nationalism, history and identity.... There Was and There Was Not is neither a history of the genocide nor an examination of its political ramifications for the modern world. It is the story of one woman's attempt to understand her community, its fundamental assumptions, and herself. Written in a conversational style that is by turns heart-wrenching and unexpectedly funny, There Was and There Was Not will appeal not only to those interested in questions of the Armenian genocide but to readers interested in the larger questions of how individuals define themselves within communities and how communities define themselves. -- Shelf Awareness A remarkable memoir... A moving examination of the complex forces of ethnicity, nationality and history that shape one's sense of self and foster, threaten or fray the fragile tapestry of community. -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review) In this courageous and candid memoir, Meline Toumani reflects on what it really means--and does not mean--to come into the inheritance of a tragic past; on the complex feelings involved in confronting a historical enemy and Other; and on what we owe--and do not owe--to our collective identities, and what to ourselves. Writing with precise insight and wit, Toumani addresses issues that weave through traumatic histories everywhere, and that continue to concern us all. --Eva Hoffman, author of After Such Knowledge: Memory, History and the Legacy of the Holocaust Meline Toumani has written an unusual book: courageous, intriguing, and at moments, despite its subject, unexpectedly funny. And her determination to understand and put behind her a century of hatred has echoes for more peoples than just Turks and Armenians. --Adam Hochschild, author of To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918 I read Meline Toumani's original and audacious book with admiration, first for the grainy pleasures of her narrative--the raw energy of true encounters--and perhaps even more for her nerve and seriousness in trying, as an Armenian-American woman, to find a path between the often-self-defeating absolutism of her own Armenian community and the Orwellian evasions of most contemporary Turks when asked to acknowledge the plain act of long-ago genocide in plain language. --Michael J. Arlen, author of Passage to Ararat Meline Toumani's inspiring book cuts through the fog of politics surrounding the Armenian genocide with honesty, intelligence, and humanity. I was very impressed by the charm, humor, and bravery she displays in her relationships with Turks from all sides of the political spectrum, as well as her willingness to examine the assumptions of her fellow diaspora Armenians. --Ruth Franklin, author of A Thousand Darknesses: Lies and Truth in Holocaust Fiction Meline Toumani's beautifully rendered memoir is a powerful reminder of how family histories can constrain as much as they enhance our understanding of the world. This is a remarkable, vital, and perhaps above all courageous investigation into history, culture, and the human heart. --Dinaw Mengestu, author of All Our Names This is a brave book, deeply intelligent and elegantly readable, providing a much needed fresh point of view. Anyone genuinely interested in the relations between Armenians and Turks, a subject that continues to be clouded by politics, must read it. In a meticulous, clarifying, and highly informed accounting, Toumani gives a personal perspective on the hate-filled relationship that persists between those Armenians who insist that the genocide be recognized and those Turks who adamantly deny the historical truth of the genocide. I could not put it down. --Eric Bogosian, author of Operation Nemesis This deft combination of political and personal narrative is an attempt to cross one of the modern world's most sensitive divides. With warmth and feeling, it shows why so many people and nations are imprisoned by the past, and what can happen when they set themselves free. --Stephen Kinzer, author of Crescent and Star: Turkey Between Two Worlds

Author Information

Meline Toumani has written extensively for The New York Times on Turkey and Armenia as well as on music, dance, and film. Her work has also appeared in n+1, The Nation, Salon, and The Boston Globe. A journalism fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna, Austria, she was also the coordinator of the Russian-American Journalism Institute in Rostov-on-Don, Russia. Born in Iran and ethnically Armenian, she grew up in New Jersey and California and now lives in New York City.

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