Starting in 1915, the Ottoman Empire slaughtered up to 1.5 million Armenians and evicted hundreds of thousands of others from their ancestral homeland. After an immediate groundswell of support for the “starving Armenians” led by Woodrow Wilson, the atrocities were wiped from the public’s consciousness and the perpetrators never answered for their crimes.

 

This groundbreaking book profiles the leading players—Armenian activists, Turkish diplomats, and American officials—who played a major role in furthering or opposing the century-long Armenian quest for justice in the face of Turkish denial of its crimes, and reveals the events that have conspired to eradicate the “forgotten Genocide” from the world’s memory, including a profound shift in U.S. foreign policy that helped stymie any attempt to hold Turkey accountable.

 

Praise & Reviews

 

"Michael Bobelian has done a real service both in re-evoking the genocide and chronicling this long, sorry history of denial." — Adam Hochschild, National Book Award Finalist and author of Bury the Chains and King Leopold’s Ghost

 

"A powerfully moving account." — Washington Times

 

"A powerful and provocative work." — Dr. Michael Berenbaum, former Project Director, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

 

"At every turn,... the Armenian cause has fallen victim to broken Western promises and been sacrificed to the priorities of others."

— Foreign Affairs Magazine

 

"Bobelian has made a significant contribution…. The book is captivating." — Dr. Richard G. Hovannisian, Professor of History at UCLA

 

"Children of Armenia... presents a well-documented, harrowing examination." — Los Angeles Times

 

"This fall brought Michael Bobelian’s resourcefully reported Children of Armenia." — Chronicle of Higher Education

 

"This powerful and gripping account of a people’s century-long struggle for justice is long overdue." — George Deukmejian, 35th Governor of California

 

"'Children of Armenia' focuses on the Turkish nationalism, world war weariness, survivor psychology and Cold War squabbling that let the world forget the unforgettable." — Washington Post

 

"I heartily recommend this book." — Former U.S. Ambassador John M. Evans

 

"Passionate,... important... revelation of an egregious wrong still not acknowledged, let alone righted." — Kirkus

 

"Bobelian adds a first-rate analytical narrative of the aftermath of the genocide. This account is a crucial contribution. No comparable text exists. Indispensable." — Dr. Khachig Tölölyan, Professor of English Literature at Wesleyan University

 

"The scholarship is impeccable, the style accessible, the objectivity unimpeachable…. The result is a detached, cool, and thorough account that reads at times like a thriller." — Ararat Magazine

 

"So this passionate re-examination is timely, necessary, and an important reminder of the savagery that can accompany ethnic hatreds." — Booklist

 

"I love the book." — John Rothmann, KGO 810 AM in San Francisco

 

"Children of Armenia… is clearly an act of self-discovery and a labour of love." — Survival: Global Politics & Strategy

 

"Bobelian offers a remarkably even-handed account… Bobelian’s book stands as a fine documentation of the genocide recognition movement… and offers insight into… its significance today."

— Journal of Peace Research

 

"Children of Armenia... [is] among the most appealing and convincing explorations [of] the legacies of the past." — Historical Dictionary of Armenia

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"Bobelian's moving Children of Armenia… tells both the story of the 1915 genocide... by Turkey and the subsequent refusal of that country to admit what it has done." — Going Places: A Reader's Guide to Travel Narratives

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​​"Bobelian's book offers... a comprehensive and welcomed account of a complex story." — Armenian Review

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