Rating: 
Summary: Good Timing
Review: All in all, Balakian's book is a good read. He provides an entertaining narrative about an area that Americans clearly know little about and, with the state of international affairs, an area with which Americans need to become more familiar.
For readers (like myself) who know little about the roots of the balkan conflict over the last decade and even before, Balakian provides a fairly basic, yet fascinating, history lesson about the religious divide among the small states that formerly made up the Ottoman Empire.
What I liked less about the book was Balakian's clear agenda, his attempts to bring the Armenian Genocide out from under the looming shadow of the Holocaust. The main focus throughout the entire book, Balakian begins to border on the ridiculous when, in his epilogue, he bashes the late 20th century American government for catering to Turkish opposition and failing to pass legislation recognizing the Armenian extermination as genocide.
The history contained within this book is useful and interesting. Less intellectual and more a debate over semantics, the issue over the use of the word "genocide" is less engaging.
Rating: 
Summary: well written, well researched
Review: This book was extremely well researched and informative. It was an excellent read and very accessible for a history book. That a serious book about the Armenian Genocide has made it to number four on the New York Times Best-Seller List is testimony to the outstanding research and careful attention undertaken by Balakian. Having read several books on the Armenian Genocide there is however some repetition of information; Vahan Dadrian's The History of the Armenian Genocide or Christopher Walker's Armenia: The Survival of a Nation pretty much cover everything in great detail. The one thing I did find very intriguing and new was Balakian's emphasis on American philanthropy, and how the Armenian Genocide was the first major humanitarian undertaking for many American philanthropic societies. If you have not read other histories however The Burning Tigris is a good place to start.
Rating: 
Summary: Is Author Peter Balakian Guilty of Ethocide?
Review: .
Ethocide, as coined by Ergün Kirlikovali, involves the extermination of ethics. Peter Balakian, poet and English instructor, now professes to be a historian; a legitimate historian is one who searches for the whole truth, and does not make use of selective and questionable facts to serve an agenda.Who is Peter Balakian? Unlike many Armenian parents who force their form of brutality upon their children (by conditioning them with hateful poems with lines such as "Better I be a dog or cat than a Turkish barbarian"), Balakian's parents did not stress such medieval methods. According to his "Black Dog of Fate," he learned the details of the "genocide" later in life, and became even more obsessed than the typical "Armeni-Lemming." "My life has been deeply shaped by the facts of this history and the trauma..." he has been quoted as saying. The key word is "facts." In this work, Balakian whines that "Turkey" dares suggest "there are 'two sides' to the Armenian Genocide.'" It's not just Turkey, but all truth-seekers who know that there are always two sides to ANY story. The fact of this story is that the Armenians treacherously rebelled against their nation where they had prospered for centuries. (Some 200,000 fighters, by Boghos Nubar's count, in 1919.) The bankrupt "Sick Man" fighting world powers on multiple fronts had to get the back-stabbing Armenian network moved away. The tragedies that occurred took place out of maladministration and lack of manpower/resources; NO proof exists of a state-sponsored extermination policy. "The deafening drumbeat of the propaganda, and the sheer lack of sophistication in argument which comes from preaching decade after decade to a convinced and emotionally committed audience, are the major handicaps of Armenian historiography of the diaspora today," wrote Dr. Gwynne Dyer, in 1976. Armeni-Lemmings seem incapable of sorting out ALL the facts; they accept at face value what their deceitful historians (such as Vahakn Dadrian) tell them, along with their hypocritical allies, the so-called "genocide scholars." Leaders such as Harut Sassounian tell them to go out and purchase this work, and "The Burning Tigris" briefly shoots up the best-seller lists. Enter equally mindless supporters like Henry Morgenthau III, shamelessly following in his grandfather's slanderous footsteps, consequently writing articles for Armenian mouthpiece publications as The Boston Globe. This hoax of a book cannot be exposed in detail here (I hope to elsewhere). Let's take a look at some claims, just from the first few chapters. In the preface, we are told once again what a "secret genocide" this is, countless links in an Internet search proving otherwise. Later, a reference to Cuban independence from Spain... but where is the mention of the 1.5 million Cubans who were relocated (over twice the number of the Armenians), with deaths in the hundreds of thousands? Now THERE you have a "forgotten genocide" (in silly Samantha Power's definition of genocide, anyway; the "intent" needs to be studied here) among so many others throughout history. Although elsewhere quoted as saying, "We have a special mission to work for human rights for all people being subjected to this kind of barbarism," the insincere author does not refer to these parallel victims. He really wants to preserve exclusive victimhood for the Armenians. 200,000 victims in the 1890s? The Turk-hating Lepsius figured 90,000, an already exaggerated figure. We get the typical figure of 1-1.5 million slaughtered Armenians. However, Balakian himself added his name to a 1998 commemoration (appearing in the N.Y. Times) stating 1 million Armenians survived. A dozen "neutral" (Western, therefore pro-Armenian) estimates had the pre-war Armenian population ranging from 1 million (1912 British Blue Book) to 1.6 million (Lepsius). (Only Armenians have this figure at over 2 million.) The 300,000-600,000 subtracted result died from all causes, not just massacres... in a crumbled nation where "thousands" of Turks were dying "daily" ("Ambassador Morgenthau's Story"). Hovannisian wrote some 150,000 Armenians died of famine, accompanying the Russian retreats (1967). Why are there no Turks in Armenia, when once Muslims formed a majority? Because Armenian mass-murderers like Hamparsum Boyaciyan, Antranig Ozanian, Lalayan and Drastamat Kanayan systematically wiped out Turks/Muslims. (Boyaciyan was an Ottoman Parliamentarian, at a time when a Catholic in America couldn't get elected dog catcher; this is how he repaid his country.) Out of over 2.5 million Turks who died around WWI, over half a million died at the hands of the Armenians... more than the Armenians massacred by Turks. Such is the calamity of this debate, where lost Turkish lives are ignored. (Balakian, unsurprisingly, does not allude to the "human rights" of these victims.) Balakian helped recruit big names to sign the aforementioned commemoration, as Mailer, Vonnegut, Sonntag, Miller... lazy-thinking "intellectuals" who don't bother to do their homework, dumbly accepting whatever they're told (like Franz Werfel, before them). In the book, we have their counterparts: "American intellectual and cultural leaders" who blindly accept the biased media's exclusive tales of "The Terrible Turk." Ohannes Chatschumian stayed at the "cultural retreat where like-minded progressives gathered," whose "penetrating eyes...were immediately appealing" to Alice Stone Blackwell. This "brilliant, handsome... student" charmed the pants off Alice, and soon wormed his way into this inner circle. WHAT do you think the natural result of all that would have been, where "conversations about the Armenian Question seemed to be inextricable"? Balakian is upset America is currently not shedding as many tears for the sympathy-seeking Armenians as they did earlier, when "From 1894 into the 1920s, Americans sent more than $100 million in aid." Maybe some Americans remember Armenia's reneging on a U.S. loan, in the then-gargantuan amount of $50 million. (Yet, America's politicians still gave some $1.5 billion over the last decade or so... why?) Armeni-Lemmings have orgasmically given this identity-affirming book five stars, as sure as they will rack up the unhelpful votes with this review... simply because objective facts sadly don't matter to them. Balakian laughably asserts Henry Morgenthau (see my Amazon review) was a man of "high moral conscience." If Morgenthau is Balakian's barometer of morality, no wonder he has written (aided by irresponsible HarperCollins editor, Gail Winston) such a hateful and misleading book.
.
Rating:
Summary: True, The world needs to read this book
Review: True armenian history. Every historian armenian and non armenians should read this book. I give it more than 5 stars.
Rating:
Summary: More Armenian political propaganda
Review: Why can't these people stop harrassing Turkey and get a life? At one point in history, Turkey was the "low-hanging fruit" on which everyone could easily dump with little fear of repercussion. Now that the picture has changed in recent years, Armenians have become uncomfortable with the new reality and are lashing out, as this book demonstrates. It COMPLETELY eliminates ANY mention of all the ethnic Muslim minoritites (2.5 million) many of whom were were killed at the hands of the Armenians, and insists that the Armenians were victims alone. Ther is no substantiation for this. Makes great propaganda and holds the Armenian community together, but it would be nice if there were more credibility to the allegations of a "genocide". Also, the publicist for the book is an Armenian woman, so that's how it ended up getting anywhere to begin with. If you wil also notice, most of the people writing reviews are Armenians or from L.A. (same thing). Maybe I should not have said anything. Now they will hide their identities in future posts. Needless to say, I am NOT impressed.
Rating:
Summary: Accurate in history
Review: Peter Balakian has indeed walked a fine line bringing yet another version of the Armenian Genocide as it happened, despite the virulent denial by the Turkish government. It is appaling how the world is sympathetic to the Jewish Holocaust, yet, the contemporary Western world has become apathetic in recognizing an equally barbaric episode, namely the massacre of 1 million plus Armenians. We hope authors and historians such as Balakian will do mankind a favour in brininging full documentation of past slaughters of innocent humans so that future generations will not repeat these acts.
Rating:
Summary: Openness
Review: Openness is one thing that the tragic events of the period between 1890s to 1920s systematic Genocide of 1.5 Million Armenians never has had for over a century, which now Balakian captures in a most effective manner. How could the whole world have stood by and did nothing at the time, allowing such atrocities to take place, and then throughout the 20th century be silent on the subject? Would this book be the catalyst to bring openness in the 21st century to such critical event in the history of humankind ?
Rating: 
Summary: A Good Overview of the Armenian Genocide
Review: This book is a good overview of the Armenian genocide for those who may not be familiar with the issue. However I was dissapointed by the lack of original material (including photographs) or interpretation. If you have read books by Vahakn Dadrian, Richard Hovannisian,"Ambassador Morgenthau's Story" and others then you will find that over 3/4 of the book is simply a review of existing published material. The only section I found unique and interesting was Part I of the book; "The Emergence of International Human Rights in America: The Armenian Massacres in the 1890's". Having said all this though I believe the book will do well and is written in an accesible fashion for those who may not like more scholarly books like those of Vahakn Dadrian and Richard Hovannisian.
Rating:
Summary: To "A Reader" - Turkish American descendant of WWI soldier
Review: I wanted to write to you directly. I appreciate greatly what you wrote here. My grandparents were all survivors of the genocide. My grandmother was forced to watch her father tortured to death--he was an early democrat who wanted a constitution for Turkey with a Bill of Rights for all citizens, including minorities. My grandfather saw 10 members of his family killed and the rest taken away on the deportation marches -- he survived as a boy in gangs until they made their way to Syria. My other grandmother saw her village herded into their church and the church burned down on top of them -- she and her mother were hidden in the basement of a Turkish woman who kept them there for two years. I wanted to say, that it is people like you who will make the world a better place, and if we who are willing to be loving human beings live within our humanity, united in that spirit that life has to be better than nationalism and brutality, the world will be a better place. I'm reaching out to you in that kind of love as a person of faith. Best wishes from the descendent of survivors. Balakian's excellent book is important for the reasons that you write about: the truth is necessary for our world.
Rating:
Summary: History comes alive in this book
Review: Peter Balakian brings history to life in this compelling book. He is a master story-teller and I read it over the weekend, while flying home, and I couldn't put it down. To see the proof of how compelling it is, scroll down to a review by a 71-year-old Turkish American, who opens his heart and I feel for him.
|
