Customer Reviews

Burning Tigris, The: The Armenian Genocide and America's Response

5 star:		(79)
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3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(20)

 

 

and it made me proud to learn of America's first international human rights endeavor and the many acts of altruism carried out by State Department officials as well as by grassroots Americana -- from Sunday schoolers to Clara Barton and more --to save Armenian lives during the tragedy of the horrific Armenian Genocide. From the opening sentence one can see Balakian writes with a poet's eye but his heart and soul belong to historical witness and testimony. This scrupulously researched and detailed account will not disappoint and will keep readers turning pages. Finally a clear concise eloquent historical narrative of the 20th century's first genocide.

First I like to say this is most important work on the genocidal ethnic cleansing of Ermeni people from Anatolia. I am Turk and I am from the area where the Ermeni were killed that is mentioned in the book, Hazar Golu. Around this lake are buried thousands upon thousands of Ermeni. Everybody who lives around here knows this is truth! They know Ermenians were killed like sheep not fighting! In my family village Ermeni lived peacefully, strangers came and murdered all of them! No deportation, no relocation. My grandfather tells me this. Only people who lie about this are kemalists who profit from illegal government of Turkiye. The kemalists who deny Ermenian Jenocide in reviewing this book are the grandchildren of those who killed the Ermenians. It is their interest to lie. Turkish government is built upon the bones of the Ermenians, Greeks, Suriyani, Zaza, and Kurds. Who does jenocide and admits to it? Nobody! Germans did not say even when they were killing Jews! It was "relocation" just like what the kemalist government of Turkiye says today. There two types of people in Turkiye today: kemalists and the good people of Turkiye. I hope this book will be translated to Turkish. This book tells the truth about everything Turkish government did and does to the Ermenian people. The most important chapter is on Turkish work to lie today about what happened. Many Ermenian village and homes are empty even today. I hope when the kemalist government and their agents leave power forever, the Ermenian people come back to their properties and villages and live happy lives. This book could be a stepping stone to a confederation of Anatolian peoples.

I highly recommend this book to those individuals who want to find the truth to our world history. After reading the reviews of others, it is clear to me that some individuals find this book disturbing because this is probably the first time in which they have been told that the young turks killed more than 1 million armenians. Some individuals attempt to discredit this book saying that Balakian is a poet not a historian. However, all of Balakians sources have been taken from historians, american politicians, survivors and from the young turks. The Turkish Government must come forward and recognize the terror they spread through the Ottoman Empire in the early part of the 20th century.

The author's research is extensive and based on American Archives and other researchers' independent studies. Unlike some of the Turkish reviewer's comments, Balakian's research is fact based not anectodal as Meltem Deniz claims. It seems like Meltem Deniz has an agenda that is exactly as the turkish government's denial ploy. I do not believe history of this crime against humanity should be distorted as it is being done by Meltem Deniz.

I am a book collector on Near Eastern history, the way you can tell a book is well researched and written is by the referencing and the bibliography contained in the book.I must say that this book has an amazing bibliography which includes books written mainly by non-Armenians and were printed before, during and directly after the events which occurred. On the other hand almost every book which is printed to deny the Armenian Genocide uses only recently published books which were published by other denialists.

In 1985, the UN Committee on Human Rights published a report declaring the Ottoman Empire responsible for the massacres of the Armenians in 1915 and 1916. Two years later, the Council of Europe agreed that Turkey's refusal to recognise the genocide was an insurmountable obstacle to Turkey's admission to the EU. By the end of 2000, the European Parliament, France, Sweden, the Vatican and Italy finally acknowledged the Armenian genocide. Of the major powers, only the US, Canada and Britain still hold back. There are too many conflicting interests at stake. Turkey, for instance, threatened to deny the US use of its air bases if President Clinton agreed formally to accept the massacres as a genocide.

Turkey has offered funding for academic programmes in the universities of Princeton and Georgetown. Three years ago, UCLA's history department voted to reject a $1m offer to endow a programme in Turkish and Ottoman studies because it was conditional on their denying the Armenian genocide. Professor Colin Tatz, director for the Centre for Comparative Genocide Studies at Macquarie University, in Sydney, Australia, claims that Turkey has used "a mix of academic sophistication and diplomatic thuggery . . . to put both memory and history into reverse gear".

The majority of Turks remained ignorant of the genocide while it was happening, and have since. Mehmet Ergen, a 34-year-old London-based Turkish theatre director, confirms, "In our Turkish schools we never learnt about our history. The Armenian massacre was never mentioned. In London I heard that the Kurds were told that if they killed the Armenians they could take their lands. So they did, and then the Turks killed the Kurds." Ergen, a multiculturalist, laments Turkey's denial of "its own historical mosaic". He says, "even Turkish theatre owes its birth to Armenian writers and actors. Armenian, Greek and Jewish culture has vanished, and Turkey is the loser."

As Thomas Bürgenthal, an Auschwitz survivor, lawyer and member of the UN Human Rights Committee, says, "I don't know why the Turks can't admit it, express sorrow and go on. That is the worst. You do all these things to the victim and then you say it never happened. That is killing them twice."

After finishing this remarkable work the only way that I can think of to describe it is, that it is gripping from page one to page four hundred and one. Professor Balakian's careful reserved approach and use of language truly makes for a haunting, sometimes depressing read. I had never really heard of the Armenian Genocide until last month when a close Jewish friend of mine who had lost many family members in the Holocaust and who has read many books on the topic of genocide recommended Professor Balakian's book. After taking a month to carefully read this book, how anyone could give this exemplary scholarly work a negative review makes absolutely no sense, the only thing that I can think of is that either they didn't read the book and they are reacting on emotion, or like someone below already commented on, their grandparents were involved in the crime. What struck me most about this book was how easy it was to read for a history book, I found myself turning the pages with great interest as the immense timeline of World War One played itself out. I never knew that the first major humanitarian effort of many American philanthropic organizations was focused on the Armenians of Anatolia. Another thing I never realized was that there was a "Turkish Hitler," named Talat Pasha who was every bit as evil as Hitler, and who Hitler actually admired. As an avid watcher of the History Channel I can recall seeing dozens of segments on World War One but I don't ever remember the topic of the Armenian Genocide, or the person of Talat Pasha being covered. This lack of coverage is a little difficult to understand since according to Professor Balakian, Teddy Roosevelt considered the greatest tragedy of World War One to be what happened to the Armenians. The Armenian Genocide is truly one of the greatest hidden crimes in history, I am just surprised that some Hollywood writer or director hasn't picked up on the epic nature of this theme - especially the Armenian valiance in the defense of Van in May 1915 - it seems to be an Academy Award waiting to be won. I highly recommend Professor Balakian's book, it is an incredible, eye-opening book.

It does not in any way diminish the sheer horror of the holocaust against the Jews to say that the Turks did exactly the same to the Armenians only a few decades before - and with far less international condemnation. The Armenian massacres were the first genocide, holocaust, ethnic cleansing, call it what you will - and it is great that the truth about these barbaric events are now coming to the fore. Buy this book, give it to your friends and get involved in telling people about the hidden massacre of the 20th century. Christopher Catherwood, author of CHRISTIANS, MUSLIMS AND ISLAMIC RAGE (Zondervan, 2003)

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.

I completed reading this well documented and relatively easy to read book on the Armenian Genocide a couple of days ago, and it is a little difficult to believe that the authors of the negative reviews below have actually read the book. Though the history is quite sad and burdensome to read at times, there is nothing hateful about this book. In fact, Professor Balakian (it seems to this open-minded American reader) makes every effort to do what many of the reviewers below are accusing him of not doing, namely: attempting neutrality. Balakian attempts to place the genocide against the backdrop of the entire history of the time, presenting both sides (if one actually believes there are two sides to genocide) on almost every issue that has been negatively reviewed on. Overall, I think Peter Balakian's main idea is as follows: in which direction does the preponderance of the evidence point? Namely which conclusion - based on the archival documents of America, England, France, Germany and many other countries even Turkey, newspaper accounts, eye witness testimony of both missionaries and survivors, and on the writings of such eminent diplomats and activists as Arnold Toynbee, Ambassador Morgenthau, Ambassador Viscount Bryce, Clara Barton, etc...- is most likely to be true? Balakian's bibliography reads like a who's who of neutral trustworthy people. It sounds like some of the reviewers below would have us believe that Talat and Enver and the genocide itself were simply misunderstood and that scholars and activists such as Barton, Morgenthau, Bryce, Blackwell and Howe all got it wrong. By the time it is all over no Armenians will have ever died and Talat will be up for a posthumous Nobel Peace Prize. Professor Balakian accurately documents everything and is careful to "keep his voice down." I did not read any hatred in this book, only a deliberately told history lesson. It is an interesting twist that a book that describes the ultimate "hate-crime" is considered "hate-inspiring" by many of the reviewers. I guess the truth hurts, though I am sure not as much as the bayonets did eight decades ago. This was a great book, well worth the sixteen dollars and I highly recommend it.

Before reading this book, I knew almost nothing about its subject. I found the book very persuasive in establishing that the Turkish government committed deliberate deportations and mass murders of Armenian (and other) civilians beginning in the 1890s and continuing off and on until the end of WWI. It is a real eye opener to see the familiar pattern of genocide we typically associate with Nazi Germany being used years earlier by the Turks so they could solve their "Amernian Question." There is a great deal of detail here, including photographs, and mulitple, independent eye-witness accounts of what happened. I can see no way these attrocities can be denied.

However, I did find the book to drag at times. I wished for better editing because I found the author often repeating himself and I felt he began to drone on too much. Also, it is clear that this is not a stictly objective study of these events. The author is clearly Armenian and has much (justified, I think) anger. But, as can be seen by reading through some of the reviews here on this board, it is clear that Armenians and Turks hate each other and, from reading this book, I can see why Armenians feel that way. But, what is lacking is exactly why the Turks feel that way. The book did not make it clear enough to me why the Turkish government would want to take such extreme measures against these people. I don't doubt that they did; I just wanted more background on that and don't think it was there. I suspect that there is a much longer history that needs to be told.

Regardless, I recommend the book. ...