About the Book
The decades separating our new century from the Armenian Genocide, the prototype of modern-day nation-killings, have fundamentally changed the political composition of the region. Virtually no Armenians remain on their historic territories in what is today eastern Turkey. The Armenian people have been scattered about the world. And a small independent republic has come to replace the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic, which was all that was left of the homeland as the result of Turkish invasion and Bolshevik collusion in 1920. One element has remained constant. Notwithstanding the eloquent, compelling evidence housed in the United States National Archives and repositories around the world, successive Turkish governments have denied that the predecessor Young Turk regime committed genocide, and like the Nazis who followed their example - sought aggressively to deflect blame by accusing the victims themselves. This volume argues that the time has come for Turkey to reassess the propriety of its approach, and to begin the process that will allow it move into a post-genocide era. The work includes "Genocide: An Agenda for Action," Gijs M. de Vries; "Determinants of the Armenian Genocide," Donald Bloxham; "Looking Backward and Forward," Joyce Apsel; "The United States Response to the Armenian Genocide," Simon Payaslian; "The League of Nations and the Reclamation of Armenian Genocide Survivors," Vahram L.
Shemmassian; "Raphael Lemkin and the Armenian Genocide," Steven L. Jacobs; "Reconstructing Turkish Historiography of the Armenian Massacres and Deaths of 1915," Fatma Muge Gocek; "Bitter-Sweet Memories; "The Armenian Genocide and International Law," Joe Verhoeven; "New Directions in Literary Response to the Armenian Genocide," Rubina Peroomian; "Denial and Free Speech," Henry C. Theriault; "Healing and Reconciliation," Ervin Staub; "State and Nation," Raffi K. Hovannisian.
Table of Contents:
1. Introduction: Confronting the Armenian Genocide, 2. Genocide: An Agenda for Action, 3. Determinants of the Armenian Genocide, 4. The United States Response to the Armenian Genocide, 5. The League of Nations and the Reclamation of Armenian Genocide Survivors, 6. Bitter-Sweet Memories: The Last Generation of Ottoman Armenians, 7. Raphael Lemkin and the Armenian Genocide, 8. The Armenian Genocide and International Law, 9. New Directions in Literary Responses to the Armenian Genocide, 10. Looking Backward and Forward: Genocide Studies and Teaching about the Armenian Genocide, 11. Reconstructing the Turkish Historiography on the Armenian Massacres and Deaths of 1915, 12. Denial and Free Speech: The Case of the Armenian Genocide, 13. Healing and Reconciliation, 14. State and Nation: Their Roles after Independence, About the Contributors, Index
About the Author :
Richard G. Hovannisian is distinguished professor of Armenian, Caucasian, and Near Eastern History and holder of the Armenian Educational Foundation Chair in Modern Armenian History at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is the author of numerous articles and books on Armenia, including Armenia on the Road to Independence, The Republic of Armenia, and The Armenian Genocide: History, Politics, Ethics.
Review :
-This is an indispensable guide to the current state of scholarship on the Armenian genocide in the context of contemporary politics and international law. The essays show to what degree we have entered a new phase in scholarly and political discussions of a subject that simply refuses to go away. What until recently has been treated as an Armenian or a Turkish problem here emerges as a matter for all of us.-
-Jay Winter, Yale University
-Looking Backward, Moving Forward brings the reader an up-to-date and reasoned study of the Armenian Genocide in the context of history, international law and issues that affect the ongoing trauma of the genocide for both the descendants of victims and the perpetrators. This volume, more than any other, suggests new directions in energizing both scholarly and popular understanding of this event.-
-Dr. Stephen Feinstein, Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Univesity of Minnesota
"This is an indispensable guide to the current state of scholarship on the Armenian genocide in the context of contemporary politics and international law. The essays show to what degree we have entered a new phase in scholarly and political discussions of a subject that simply refuses to go away. What until recently has been treated as an Armenian or a Turkish problem here emerges as a matter for all of us."
-Jay Winter, Yale University
"Looking Backward, Moving Forward brings the reader an up-to-date and reasoned study of the Armenian Genocide in the context of history, international law and issues that affect the ongoing trauma of the genocide for both the descendants of victims and the perpetrators. This volume, more than any other, suggests new directions in energizing both scholarly and popular understanding of this event."
-Dr. Stephen Feinstein, Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Univesity of Minnesota
"This is an indispensable guide to the current state of scholarship on the Armenian genocide in the context of contemporary politics and international law. The essays show to what degree we have entered a new phase in scholarly and political discussions of a subject that simply refuses to go away. What until recently has been treated as an Armenian or a Turkish problem here emerges as a matter for all of us."
-Jay Winter, Yale University
"Looking Backward, Moving Forward brings the reader an up-to-date and reasoned study of the Armenian Genocide in the context of history, international law and issues that affect the ongoing trauma of the genocide for both the descendants of victims and the perpetrators. This volume, more than any other, suggests new directions in energizing both scholarly and popular understanding of this event."
-Dr. Stephen Feinstein, Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Univesity of Minnesota
"This is an indispensable guide to the current state of scholarship on the Armenian genocide in the context of contemporary politics and international law. The essays show to what degree we have entered a new phase in scholarly and political discussions of a subject that simply refuses to go away. What until recently has been treated as an Armenian or a Turkish problem here emerges as a matter for all of us."
-Jay Winter, Yale University
"Looking Backward, Moving Forward brings the reader an up-to-date and reasoned study of the Armenian Genocide in the context of history, international law and issues that affect the ongoing trauma of the genocide for both the descendants of victims and the perpetrators. This volume, more than any other, suggests new directions in energizing both scholarly and popular understanding of this event."
-Dr. Stephen Feinstein, Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Univesity of Minnesota
