Rating: 
Summary: Quick Read But Not An Easy Subject
Review: I use this book in a HS class I teach on Genocide and Human Behavior. Even though it is taught during the dreaded "senior spring," once the kids start reading this book, they can not put it down (That should be enough of a testment to read the book). I actually only assign a portion of the text but most of the kids end up finishing the story on their own. Vergeen's story of the Armenian Genocide works for we see the horrors of the "Young Turks" regime through the eyes of a teenager. That being said, it is just as powerful a story for adults. I know there are more famous titles on this subject out there but none more powerful...
Rating:
Summary: An Amazing story of Courage...and a great read to boot!!
Review: I was so very impressed with this book. There are many books that try to give the reader an unflinching look into the horrors of the Armenian Genocide. None of them do a better job, then this simple novel. Read it. And tell a friend.
Rating: 
Summary: Classical hatemongering
Review: I would advise readers not to waste their money and time on this book which continues a line of racism and hatred towards Turks who were also subject to Armenian crimes. History cannot be twisted by baseless fictions posed as facts in front of gullible public.
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Summary: Recognition of a Bloody Chapter in Genocide History
Review: Mae Dardarian has done a heart-rending job, plain and simple so it goes to the heart in an adventurous and truthful description of a personal memoir. This is an evil chapter in history, still denied by the Turks who think they might rewrite history through refutation and argument when the facts are obvious in articles in the NYTimes which appeared when it happened in 1915, many books by eye witnesses and journalists. Hitler took comfort in the fact that "Who, after all, has remembered the Armenians?" Well, history has not forgotten, even if the Turks have.
Dardarian has done a fine job of capturing this black chapter in Turkish history, still denied. Testimonials such as this book, help reinforce the work of scholars, journalists and the rest of the world,, in preserving the duty to record what actually happened, free from the bias of the perpetrators.
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Summary: Novel? No, True Facts About the Armenian Genocide
Review: Ms. Derdarian's book Vergeen is a true account of one of the most notorious acts on humans - the Armenian Genocide. Yes, the stories are not factual errors as the Turks would like you to believe. As one misinformed reviewer has commented about truth and history, the Ottoman historians are paid mouthpieces by the Turkish government, a beastly animal which continues to deny to Genocide to this present day. Contradicting? I think not, this is a memoir as pointed out - definately, a most horrible but true memoir about the horrors a young Armenian girl escaping the hands of the turks and Bediouns. Was The Diary of Anne Frank not a memoir, yet as true as the story Vergeen has told. About Vergeen spelled differently in Turkey, the namet is of Armenian origin which is backed up in several publications, and the reason Turkey spells it differently is due to its overal denial and washing away the stories of the Armenian Genocide. Purposely spelling Armenian names as if they were Turkish to teach others that the origin is Turkish. The Turks that are part of these lies will continue to knock the integrity of this book because they are part of the overall plan to wipe away the memories of the Genocide. The previous reviewer (if you wish to call it that) calls this books full of lies and refers it as an OK novel. This is indeed not a novel but more of a history lesson for all those not educated in the factual aspects of the Turks massacring the Armenians. Everyone should read this book, be it Armenian, Jewish, or any other ethnicity. I read a wonderful article on Ms. Derdarian in LIFE magazine, August 1998 - everyone should read it as well. I for one am glad that this book is selling well, it shows that people want the truth.
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Summary: Denial of Genocide Infuriating
Review: The ignorance of people who chose to deny that the Armenians suffered what can only be called a genocide is most infuriating. Over a million Armenians were killed (out of a pre-war population of 3 million) and the fact that the Turkish government, blatantly contradicting their own court documents from the trials of the Young Turks, try to claim that the Armenians were merely being punished for rebellious activities is ludicrous. My great grandmother's 12 year old sister was killed, you mean to say that she was some kind of rebel? Armenians, women and children included, were led on death marches and suffered mass drownings. Is this how a country combats rebels? Blaming the Armenians for what happened in 1915 is like blaming a rape victim for the crime committed against them. Don't allow the ignorance of a few people, or even entire countries, to deter you from reading this book. Great literature like this will hopefully influence our government and our people, so that one day the deaths of the Armenians will be acknowledged, and the dead can be vindicated.
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Summary: Armenian Propaganda
Review: The Ottoman Archives are open to the examination of serious researchers, and no proof of "genocide" was ever found. As for the Armenians they were deported in a life and death struggle of the Ottoman Empire, because they have sabotaged the Ottoman Army and aided the Imperial Russian Army. So as a precaution they were deported to Arabic provinces . They were not massacred, they were not killed systematically, there were no death squads. In war time conditions there were casualties in the deportation process. But there is no mention of Turks killed by Otoman and Russian Armenians which amounted to hundreds of thousands. There is no mention of Tashnak Party's and other Armenian organizations' giving orders for genocide of Turks and there is no mention of Armenian rebellions beginning in the 19th century and there is no mention of throwing a bomb to assassinate the Sultan. All innocent Armenians being genocided by the brutal Turks. If only the world were that simple. A book is a sacred thing and it should mirror the truth and not this kind of black propaganda. Let the facts talk and not the emotions.
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Summary: Truth Always Prevails
Review: The stirring memoir of a survivor, "Vergeen" speaks forcefully for the 1.5 million Armenians who perished during the planned genocide of their Armenian subjects by the Ottoman Turkish government. I doubt those reviewers of "Vergeen" who desperately try to deny this well-established fact have even read this book or any of the other books on this subject; and they're trying to prevent others from reading it. "Vergeen" is must reading. It details the incredible experiences of a young girl's struggle to stay alive during the first genocide of the 20th century.
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Summary: History Comes Alive
Review: There is no doubt that the ARMENIAN HOLOCAUST of 1915 occurred. This fact has been verified by such diverse men as HENRY MORGENTHAU, Ambassador to Turkey from 1913 to 1916 ("When the Turkish authorities gave the orders for these deportations, they were merely giving the death warrant to a whole race; they understood this well, and, in their conversations with me, they made no particular attempt to conceal the fact. . . . I am confident that the whole history of the human race contains no such horrible episode as this. The great massacres and persecutions of the past seem almost insignificant when compared to the sufferings of the Armenian race in 1915.")
and ADOLPH HITLER (whose famous phrase "Who today still speaks of the annihilation of the Armenians?" is etched on a granite wall in the US Holocaust Museum). For more historical information, read Henry Morgenthau's book on-line at [another website]. History comes alive in the book "Vergeen", the true story of a 13 year old Armenian girl who suffers the death of her mother, and other endless atrocities during the forced march of the "death caravans". Turkish guards sell Vergeen to an Arabic nomad, where for one year she is a Bedouin slave, tattooed on her forehead and chin as a sign of servitude. Thanks to her own indomitable will and personality, Vergeen escapes and survives to start a new life in the United States, where she and her new family prosper. In 1943, after 8 years of hard study, Vergeen is the commencement speaker at her own high school graduation. Her life is complete when her sons find a doctor who, after an entire year of operations, is successful in removing Vergeen's facial tattoos.
Rating:
Summary: History Comes Alive
Review: There is no doubt that the ARMENIAN HOLOCAUST of 1915 occurred. This fact has been verified by such diverse men as HENRY MORGENTHAU, Ambassador to Turkey from 1913 to 1916 ("When the Turkish authorities gave the orders for these deportations, they were merely giving the death warrant to a whole race; they understood this well, and, in their conversations with me, they made no particular attempt to conceal the fact. . . . I am confident that the whole history of the human race contains no such horrible episode as this. The great massacres and persecutions of the past seem almost insignificant when compared to the sufferings of the Armenian race in 1915.")
and ADOLPH HITLER (whose famous phrase "Who today still speaks of the annihilation of the Armenians?" is etched on a granite wall in the US Holocaust Museum). For more historical information, read Henry Morgenthau's book on-line at [another website]. History comes alive in the book "Vergeen", the true story of a 13 year old Armenian girl who suffers the death of her mother, and other endless atrocities during the forced march of the "death caravans". Turkish guards sell Vergeen to an Arabic nomad, where for one year she is a Bedouin slave, tattooed on her forehead and chin as a sign of servitude. Thanks to her own indomitable will and personality, Vergeen escapes and survives to start a new life in the United States, where she and her new family prosper. In 1943, after 8 years of hard study, Vergeen is the commencement speaker at her own high school graduation. Her life is complete when her sons find a doctor who, after an entire year of operations, is successful in removing Vergeen's facial tattoos.
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