Surviving the Forgotten Genocide: An Armenian Memoir: John Minassian: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Surviving the Forgotten Genocide

An Armenian Memoir

Surviving the Forgotten Genocide

An Armenian Memoir

Description

A rare and poignant testimony of a survivor of the Armenian genocide.

The twentieth century was an era of genocide, which started with the Turkish destruction of more than one million Armenian men, women, and children—a modern process of total, violent erasure that began in 1895 and exploded under the cover of the First World War. John Minassian lived through this as a young man, witnessing the murder of his kin, concealing his identity as an orphan and laborer in Syria, and eventually immigrating to the United States to start his life anew. A rare testimony of a survivor of the Armenian genocide, one of just a handful of accounts in English, Minassian’s memoir is breathtaking in its vivid portraits of Armenian life and culture and poignant in its sensitive recollections of the many people who harmed and helped him. As well as a searing testimony, his memoir documents the wartime policies and behavior of Ottoman officials and their collaborators; the roles played by foreign armies and American missionaries; and the ultimate collapse of the empire. The author’s journey, and his powerful story of perseverance, despair, and survival, will resonate with readers today.

Foreword: Memories of My Grandfather

Roderic Ai Camp

Introduction

Anoush Baghdassarian and Wendy Lower

Preface

1 Sivas

2 Gurun

3 Many Hills Yet to Climb

4 The Reverend of Aleppo

5 Escape

6 The Return

7 Constantinople

Appendix

Notes

Index

Product details

Published	Mar 27 2020
Format	Hardback
Edition	1st
Extent	288
ISBN	9781538133705
Imprint	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Illustrations	14 b/w photos; 1 map
Dimensions	241 x 162 mm
Publisher	Bloomsbury Publishing

Author

John Minassian

Foreword

Roderic Ai Camp

Introduction

Wendy Lower

Introduction

Anoush Baghdassarian

Memoirs of the Armenian genocide are sometimes painful to read. They bring us face to face with the most vile features of human beings—their cruelty, venality, and violence. But in this story of a survivor, we meet people who suffered and succeeded, who endured the unendurable and were able later to make meaningful lives for themselves. In his deeply felt and beautifully written account, John Minassian provides the thick texture of the everyday experience. Genocide is no abstraction; here it is a palpable reality.

Ronald Grigor Suny, William H. Sewell Jr. Distinguished University Professor of History and Political Science, University of Michigan
We are more than a century past the beginning of the Armenian genocide. Our survivors are no longer with us—but their eyewitness accounts of how they overcame insurmountable suffering are as important now as ever before. John Minassian's gripping story will take you inside the day-to-day journey of a young man from Gurun, witnessing the unthinkable.

Carla Garapedian, Armenian Film Foundation