Books and Recommended Literature

Andreasean, A.

The Cup of Bitterness and other Short Stories. Translated from the Armenian by Jack Antreassian. New York: Ashod Press. Ideal for classroom use, this anthology of poignant short stories reflects the trauma and experiences of survivors and shows how such experiences can be translated into literature. ISBN: 0935102000. -BUY-

Arlen, Michael.

Passage to Ararat. Ballantine Books; 1976. From Publishers Weekly: Arlen's memoir of his search for cultural identity in the Armenian heritage, which his parents had disowned, which won the National Book Award in 1976. ISBN: 1886913056. -BUY-

Bagdasarian, Adam.

Forgotten Fire. New York: DK Inc, 2000. The story of how Vahan Kenderian survived the Turkish massacre of the Armenians. ISBN: 0440229170. -BUY-

Balakian, Peter.

Black Dog of Fate. Basic Books: NY, 1997. (The whole book or sections (a) “Dovey’s Story”(b) “The Fact of a House”) A privileged suburban child in 1950s New Jersey is shadowed by his relatives' carefully guarded memories of past trauma: the brutal Turkish extermination in 1915 of more than a million Armenians, including most of his maternal grandmother's family. Balakian seamlessly interweaves personal and historical material to depict one young man's reclamation of his heritage and to indict the political forces that conspired to sweep under the rug the 20th century's first genocide. ISBN: 0767902548. -BUY-

Balakian, Peter.

Sad Days of Light, Sheep Meadow Press, NY 1983. “The Claim,” “Road to Aleppo,” “History of Armenia,” “First Nervous Breakdown, Newark, NJ 1944. ASIN: 0935296344. -BUY-

Balakian, Peter.

From Reply From Wilderness Island. “Poppies." ISBN: 0935296735. -BUY-

Balakian, Peter.

From Dyer's Thistle, Carnegie Mellon University Press. 1996. "Oriental Rug," "After The Survivor's Are Gone," "Swallows Nest." ISBN: 0887482333. -BUY-

Der Hovanessian, Diana.

From Selected Poems, Riverdale-on-Hudson, NY, Sheep Meadow Press, 1994. "The Dream," "Diaspora," "This is For Zarif," "The Baker's Apprentice." ISBN: 1878818279. -BUY-

Derdarian, Mae M.

Vergeen: A Survivor of the Armenian Genocide. Atmus Press, 2000. The true story of a 13 year old Armenian girl who suffers the death of her mother, and other endless atrocities during the forced march of the "death caravans." ISBN: 1888156023. -BUY-

Goshgarian, Diane.

The Arbitrary Sword. Paperback by Vision Press July 2000. Details 24 years in the life of an Armenian family in Ottoman Turkey at the turn of the 20th century. Through the eyes of the resourceful young Victoria, we learn of the joys and hardships of a hard-working farm family, and their trials under the oppression of a government that despises them--and ultimately inflicts upon them and their fellow citizens one of the era's most horrendously effective premeditated programs of mass murder. ISBN: 0966574206. -BUY-

Groseclose, Elgin.

Ararat. Cook Publishing, 1980. A historical fiction novel of a people that could not be eliminated from the face of the earth. The author, Elgin Groseclose, is describes the way of life of the Armenians and how they are different from the Turks. The Armenians were peaceful Christians who were a minority in Moslem Turkey. ASIN: 0891910786. -BUY-

Hartunian, Abraham H.

Neither to Laugh Nor to Weep: An Odyssey of Faith: Memoir of the Armenian Genocide. Published by Armenian Heritage Press, 1999. The memoirs of Abraham Hartunian, an Armenian Evangelical clergyman who ministered in Turkey in Zeytoon, Marash, and Smyrna from 1906 to 1922, and saw his people reduced to scattered and ragged remnants. The theme throughout these memoirs is not an angry wish for revenge or a desire to open old wounds. Instead, the quiet voice of Reverend Hartunian offers a profound warning: when governments forget that they are dealing with human beings, not abstract problems, the results can be horribly inhuman. ISBN: 0935411135. -BUY-

Hovannisian, Richard G.

Looking Backward, Moving Forward: Confronting the Armenian Genocide. Transaction Publishing, 2003. (Note: Richard Hovannisian also wrote Remembrance and Denial: The Case of the Armenian Genocide.) ISBN: 0765801965. -BUY-

Kalajian, Hannah and Sullivan, Bernadine.

Hannah's Story: Escape from Genocide in Turkey to Success in America. Kalajian relates the story of her childhood in the small village of Düzce, Turkey; her flight from home in the aftermath of the Armenian Genocide; and the lonely journey that brought her, a young girl of thirteen, to New York City to face the challenges of a new life. ISBN: 0935411089. -BUY-

Ketchian, Bertha A.

In the Shadow of the Fortress: The Genocide Remembered. Zoryan Inst for Contemporary Armenian Research & Documentation Inc. 1988. ISBN: 0916431223. -BUY-

Kherdian, David.

The Road From Home: the Story of an Armenian Girl. New York: Greenwillow Books, 1979. A biography of the author’s Mother concentrating of her childhood in Turkey before the Turkish government deported its Armenian population. ISBN: 068814425X. -BUY-

Martin, Ramela.

Out of Darkness. Zoryan Institute for Contemporary,1989. Out of Darkness is the story of Ramela Der Pilibosian Martin who was born in Malatia, Western or Ottoman Armenia, just before the Genocide of 1915-1917. Her father had died before she was born. After the disappearance of her brother and the deportation of her grandfather by the Turks, Ramela Martin and her mother were forced to join the death marches, but not before her mother arranged to leave Ramela's older sister with a Turkish family. Escaping from the death marches, the women tried to return to their home but her mother died on the way, leaving Ramela alone. She was eventually rescued by the Near East Relief and placed in an orphanage. From the interior of Anatolia, Ramela Martin, together with other orphans, was moved to Aleppo, Beirut, Istanbul, and finally a refugee camp in Corinth, Greece. ISBN: 0916431282. -BUY-

Lorna Touryan and Donald Eugene Miller.

Survivors: An Oral History of the Armenian Genocide. University of California Press, 1999. Through interviews with a hundred elderly Armenians, Donald and Lorna Miller gives the "forgotten genocide" the hearing it deserves. Survivors raises important issues about genocide and about how people cope with traumatic experience. ISBN: 0520219562. -BUY-

Ohanian, Thomas A.

Lines in the Sand. Paperback by Lines In The Sand Press June, 2001. “A story of love, courage, and triumph over death and destruction in the wake of the Armenian genocide 1915-1917. The story fluctuates between historical events that led to the destruction of a peaceful people in small Armenian towns in what is now present-day Turkey. Besides historical perspectives, this book tells of the fictional story of two Armenian families, one from the town of Palou, Turkey, and the other from the town of Bitlis. Hagop, a young Armenian man had fallen in love with Sova, a beautiful young Armenian girl, and they were betrothed to marry each other in a year’s time. The story of their young lives, family, and traditions are beautifully portrayed in this unique story. The customs, beliefs, and traditions of the Armenian people are explained with beautiful description concerning the Christian rituals and religious holidays and feasts. ISBN: 0970930607. -BUY-

Saroyan, William.

My Name is Aram. (Newly reissued). A modern classic. The book of 14 interconnected short stories published in 1940 consists of exuberant, often whimsical episodes in the imaginative life of young Aram Garoghlanian, an Armenian-American boy who is the author's alter ego. It is Saroyan's most celebrated work of short fiction- a boy's view of the American Dream. Aram Garoghlanian was a Californian, born in Fresno on the other side of the Southern Pacific tracks. But he was also part of a large, sprawling family of immigrant Armenians--a whole tribe of eccentric uncles, brawling cousins, and gentle women. Through these unforgettable, often hilarious characters Aram comes to understand life, courage, and the power of dreams. ISBN: 0613139720. -BUY-

Shirinian, Lorne.

Survivor Memoirs of the Armenian Genocide. 1999. Taderon Press. An excellent introduction to survivor memoirs of the Armenian Genocide in Armenian diaspora literature. Shirinian's analysis is primarily through a literary perspective and focuses on American-Armenian publications.

Siamanto.

From Bloody News From My Friend, P. Balakian, Wayne State Univ. Press, 1996. "The Dance," "Grief," "The Mulberry Tree." ISBN: 0814326404. -BUY-

Skrypuch, Marsha.

The Hunger. Thought-provoking novel deals with anorexia. The Hunger makes thought-provoking reading for anyone, though it is aimed at young adults. Marsha Skrypuch deals intelligently and gracefully with sensitive issues, primarily anorexia and the massacres of Armenians during WW1. She effectively contrasts the self-imposed hunger of anorexia and the involuntary hunger of starvation in two teenagers separated by eighty years but linked by blood, Marta in 1915-18 Armenia and Paula in 1990s Canada. Skrypuch explores both girls' desperate situations realistically and without pulling punches. The author's web site offers student study guides for her books, along with a vocabulary list, which can be downloaded. (See http://www.calla.com). -BUY-

Skrypuch, Marsha.

Nobody's Child. Dundurn Group, 2003. A sequel to the highly successful The Hunger. Orphaned by the Adana massacre in 1909, Mariam and her siblings, together with their friend Kevork and his aunt, travel home to Marash hoping to find their remaining family still alive. Six years later, when the teens face deportation from Turkey, they are torn apart despite their best efforts to stay together. One thing sustains them throughout their horrifying ordeals—the hope that they might one day be reunited. The author’s web site
offers student study guides for her books, along with a vocabulary list, which can be downloaded. (See http://www.calla.com). ISBN: 1550024426. -BUY-

Soghoian, Florence M.

Portrait of a Survivor. 1997. Christopher Publishing. Story of a mother as related by her daughter, written with a grace and passion. It's also the terribly sad story of the mass murders of the Armenian people by the Turks. ISBN: 0815805268. -BUY-

Tekeyan, Vahan.

From Sacred Wrath, Ashod Press, NY 1982. "We Shall Say No to God," "There Are Boys." ASIN: 0935102086. -BUY-

Werfel, Franz.

The Forty Days of Musa Dagh. Epic historical novel of how a group of Armenian villages targeted for genocide in 1915 fought back and ultimately survived. “…one of the greatest pieces of literature ever written. … it usually only receives serious study at the university level, but this does not diminish its importance as one of the greatest works of fiction. It is stirring and disturbing, it relentlessly forces the reader to confront visions of the human psyche, of the darkness of evil, and of the power of courage. ISBN: 0786711388. -BUY-

Yervant, John.

Needle, Thread and Button. 1988, 101 pp. Born in Garin (Erzerum), the heartland of historic Armenia, young Yervant Kouyoumjian lived through the horrors of the deportations and massacres of Armenians under Ottoman rules during the First World War. John Yervant witnessed the disintegration of his family and people as the deportations led him from Erzerum to Erzingan, Egin, Arapgir, and Malatia on their way to the slaughter houses in Northern Syria.
Out of print. Some copies available from the Zoryan Institute Online. -BUY-

Zaroukian, Andranik. Bayizian, Elise and Margossian, Marzbed.

Men without Childhood. New York: Ashod Press, 1985, 162 pp. An autobiography detailing how the author, as a two-year-old child in 1915, was deported with his mother from the town of Gurun in central Turkey. With hundreds of other women, children, and elderly, they marched through the Syrian desert, finally reaching Aleppo, a northern Syrian city where they found refuge. Zaroukian spent his early years in orphanages in Aleppo and Jebeil, a town north of Beirut.
Out of print. Some copies available from the NAASR Online. ISBN 0935102159 / ASIN: 0935102159. -BUY-