Description
The definitive account of the organized destruction of the Ottoman Armenians . . . No future discussion of the history will be able to ignore this brilliant book.--Orhan Pamuk
Beginning in 1915, under the cover of a world war, some one million Armenians were killed through starvation, forced marches, and mass acts of slaughter. Although Armenians and the judgment of history have long held the Ottoman powers responsible for genocide, modern Turkey has rejected any such claim. Now, in a pioneering work of excavation, Turkish historian Taner Akçam has made unprecedented use of Ottoman and other sources--military and court records, parliamentary minutes, letters, and eyewitness reports--to produce a scrupulous account of Ottoman culpability. Tracing the causes of the mass destruction, Akçam reconstructs its planning and implementation by the departments of state, the military, and the ruling political parties, and he probes the multiple failures to bring the perpetrators to justice. As the topic of the Armenian genocide provokes ever-greater passion and controversy around the world, Akçam's work has only become more important and relevant. Beyond its timeliness, however, A Shameful Act is sure to take its lasting place as a classic and necessary work on the subject.Author: Taner Akcam
Publisher: St. Martins Press-3PL
Published: 08/21/2007
Pages: 496
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.35lbs
Size: 8.40h x 5.40w x 1.30d
ISBN13: 9780805086652
ISBN10: 080508665X
BISAC Categories:
- History | Eastern Europe | General
- History | Middle East | Turkey & Ottoman Empire
- History | Modern | 20th Century | General
About the Author
Born in Ardahan province, Turkey, in 1953, Taner Akçam is the author of ten scholarly works of history and sociology, including A Shameful Act, as well as numerous articles in Turkish, German, and English. He currently teaches at Clark University.