Review
In the spring of 1915, Samuel Nakasian's father and one million other Armenian men were taken from their homes by Turkish policemen, escorted out into the desert, and murdered. That infamous Armenian genocide meant that young Sam, his two siblings, and his mother emigrated to America. The strain on his mother created a nervous breakdown compelling her to place her three children in private orphanages. She then entered a hospital where she died a few years later. Sam is a ward of the Children's Aid Society and placed at the Brace Farm School. He speaks no English. He knows no one. Thus begins the American experience of Sam Nakasian, a life so interesting and rich as to be a dramatic example of the role immigrants play in the molding of our great nation. Nakasian manages, through determination and desire, to rise above the overwhelming odds against him to build a wonderful, productive life as one of America's "adopted sons". America's Adopted Son is wonderful autobiographical reading, and a welcome addition to today's national dialogue over the issues and controversies of immigration. -- Midwest Book Review
