NONFICTION REVIEWS: WEEK OF 5/25/2009

Publishers Weekly
May 26 2009

Children of Armenia: A Forgotten Genocide and the Century-long
Struggle for Justice Michael Bobelian. Simon & Schuster, $26 (320p)
ISBN 978-1-4165-5725-8

The 1915 genocide perpetrated by the Turkish government against
its Armenian subjects drags on in the form of Turkish denial and
global indifference, according to this rancorous history. Journalist
Bobelian gives a sketchy rundown of the massacres ("what difference
did it make if several hundred thousand Armenians died rather than
1.5 million?"), but his main story is the ensuing refusal of Turkey
and the international community–especially the United States–to
properly acknowledge the crime. He chronicles a generations-long
contest between moral claims and realpolitik; after initial Western
outrage, the genocide was shoved off the agenda of Turkish-American
relations by commercial interests and the anti-Soviet alliance. The
book provides an exhaustive account of the perennial battles between
Armenian-American activists and Turkey’s lobbyists over congressional
genocide resolutions. The victimization of the Armenians’ excuses much
for Bobelian, who blames Armenian terrorism in the 1970s and 1980s–he
sympathetically profiles an aging survivor who assassinated two Turkish
diplomats–on "frustration and rage" over Ankara’s denials. One leaves
this j’accuse wondering if the quest for justice can be taken to an
unhealthy extreme. (Sept. 1)