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Rating: 
Summary: Funny, Sad, the Best
Review: I hate to say this about a book that deals with massacres, but this is a funny, sad book. The author has no love for Armenians or Turks. He just tells it like he sees it. I had to laugh when the Turkish officer beat up the Kurdish conscript for defecating on the street, and the Kurd snapped to attention, saluted and resumed the squatting position. Turns out that he didn't speak a word of Turkish. Turks are from Mars and Kurds are from Venus?On a more serious note, this is great storytelling. We get to know the people Rev. Riggs knew. We get to learn their terrible fate with him. We see him desparately trying to get the bigshots he plays cards with to spare the lives of the condemned race. I've read quite a few memoirs, and this is definitely the best. The book is apparently taken from an archive that includes numerous other reports about the Armenian massacres. The rest of the reports are shorter, and they are compiled in James Barton, "Turkish Atrocities."
Rating:
Summary: Funny, Sad, the Best
Review: I hate to say this about a book that deals with massacres, but this is a funny, sad book. The author has no love for Armenians or Turks. He just tells it like he sees it. I had to laugh when the Turkish officer beat up the Kurdish conscript for defecating on the street, and the Kurd snapped to attention, saluted and resumed the squatting position. Turns out that he didn't speak a word of Turkish. Turks are from Mars and Kurds are from Venus? On a more serious note, this is great storytelling. We get to know the people Rev. Riggs knew. We get to learn their terrible fate with him. We see him desparately trying to get the bigshots he plays cards with to spare the lives of the condemned race. I've read quite a few memoirs, and this is definitely the best. The book is apparently taken from an archive that includes numerous other reports about the Armenian massacres. The rest of the reports are shorter, and they are compiled in James Barton, "Turkish Atrocities."
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding book, and an invaluable historical account
Review: This book, besides being an invaluable first-hand account of the Armenian Genocide, is actually quite readable and entertaining. Written by an American missionary living in Turkey in 1915, it is an insightful chronology of the events that unfolded in his town, Harpoot. The great thing is, Riggs is an American and quite unbiased. Turks and Armenians alike in many ways annoy and befuddle him. But he knows the country well, and describes that it was quite obvious that there was a centrally-planned massacre going on. The book is written in so much detail--of how the deportations and massacres unfolded--that it is hard to believe that there are some who question the existence of the Armenian Genocide. This is probably the best primary account of the Armenian Genocide out there, because it's not told through the eyes of one survivor, but through the eyes of someone who saw all of the events unfolding before him. This book is must read for historians and experts on the subject and is certainly a "thorn in the side" for revisionists who claim that the wholesale massacre of Armenians didn't take place.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding book, and an invaluable historical account
Review: This book, besides being an invaluable first-hand account of the Armenian Genocide, is actually quite readable and entertaining. Written by an American missionary living in Turkey in 1915, it is an insightful chronology of the events that unfolded in his town, Harpoot. The great thing is, Riggs is an American and quite unbiased. Turks and Armenians alike in many ways annoy and befuddle him. But he knows the country well, and describes that it was quite obvious that there was a centrally-planned massacre going on. The book is written in so much detail--of how the deportations and massacres unfolded--that it is hard to believe that there are some who question the existence of the Armenian Genocide. This is probably the best primary account of the Armenian Genocide out there, because it's not told through the eyes of one survivor, but through the eyes of someone who saw all of the events unfolding before him. This book is must read for historians and experts on the subject and is certainly a "thorn in the side" for revisionists who claim that the wholesale massacre of Armenians didn't take place.
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