I have read many of the books written by survivors of the Armenian genocide carried out by Turkey, and this is by far the best of them all. Aurora Mardigian (her name was subsequently changed by "Hollywood") was 14 when her story began, and what makes this book the best is also what makes it the worst: she gives many specific examples of how Turks murdered and tortured Armenians, told quite dispassionately but in no less horrifying terms.
I've already bought copies to give to my brother and sister, even at its high price, because it's worth every cent, and so that all will KNOW what the Armenian people went through at the hands of the still-denying Turks.
Those who don't know what Armenia and her people are about will also learn the true nature and identity of our wonderful culture, and all that it emcompassed both in early times as well as currently.

This book is truly interesting. It explains how an Armenian Genocide survivor's memoir was turned into a motion picture in 1919, a year or two after her arrival to the United States. The beginning of the book explains the whole movie production process, and even lists reviews given at the time of its showing. The movie apparently was very popular in 1919, however all copies of it seem to have been lost. However, the book has about 6 still photos from the movie. The bulk of the book is simply a reprint of Aurora Mardiganian's account of living through the Armenian Genocide. It is amazing, sad, sickening. This is an extremely excellent book for anyone knowing little about the Armenian Genocide, and an original and interesting one for those more familiar with the subject.

I would not be reviewing this book if I had not chanced to stop at a very special store in Ellsworth Maine with the name "ROOSTER BROTHER".

This is a Kitchen Store with every thing from great cookware to special tools and implements to special coffees fresh roasted on site.

When we were checking out I saw a copy of "Rooster Brother" the book on display.

The store was very busy but I did learn that the copy, a copy signed by the author, had been given to the owner of the store by the author who had happened by and saw the store's name. I did not have time to look at it closely, but, it looked like a good book for children. I will have to go back and find out the origin of the stores name.

TO the book!

Of Course the book is out of print, but thanks to the Internet and Amazon.com, I was able to purchase a retired library copy without major damage through Amazon's network of used book dealers.

What a great story! A young boy is wronged and retaliates in a non-violent, non-threatening manor.

The son of a poor woman in what seems to be a mid-eastern country with a fictitious name is taking a rooster to the bakery to be cooked in the bakery oven when he is over come by three 'bad men' or thieves and the rooster is taken.

The methods used by the boy to get back at the tieves and retrieve the now roasted rooster show his intelligence and quick thinking being rewarded.

Even though the book is used, I am saving it for Christmas when I will give it to myself to have to read to my two grandchildren.

Before my visit to Roster Brother the store I had no knowledge of Nonny Hogrogian, but now, I will be looking for more of her books.

I would not be reviewing this book if I had not chanced to stop at a very special store in Ellsworth Maine with the name "ROOSTER BROTHER".

This is a Kitchen Store with every thing from great cookware to special tools and implements to special coffees fresh roasted on site.

When we were checking out I saw a copy of "Rooster Brother" the book on display.

The store was very busy but I did learn that the copy, a copy signed by the author, had been given to the owner of the store by the author who had happened by and saw the store's name. I did not have time to look at it closely, but, it looked like a good book for children. I will have to go back and find out the origin of the stores name.

TO the book!

Of Course the book is out of print, but thanks to the Internet and Amazon.com, I was able to purchase a retired library copy without major damage through Amazon's network of used book dealers.

What a great story! A young boy is wronged and retaliates in a non-violent, non-threatening manor.

The son of a poor woman in what seems to be a mid-eastern country with a fictitious name is taking a rooster to the bakery to be cooked in the bakery oven when he is over come by three 'bad men' or thieves and the rooster is taken.

The methods used by the boy to get back at the tieves and retrieve the now roasted rooster show his intelligence and quick thinking being rewarded.

Even though the book is used, I am saving it for Christmas when I will give it to myself to have to read to my two grandchildren.

Before my visit to Roster Brother the store I had no knowledge of Nonny Hogrogian, but now, I will be looking for more of her books.

About a decade has past since I read this book while in High School. I remember liking it a lot as I read it and still remember some of the themes that were very consistent through so many of the stories... If you like Hansel & Gretel, you'll enjoy this.

I adored this book as a lower school student. It taught me about my culture and is full of so many beautiful pictures - I must have checked it out tens of times at our library... it's a must for any bestik Armenian child.

The value of this book is best illustrated by the preface of the very same book: The hypothesis that the homeland of the parent Indo-European language was in Europe and that the Indo-European speaking peoples of Asia Minor and the Armenian Highland were migrants has become so widespread and has occupied such a firm position in scholarship, resulting in rigid thinking, that any
proof or evidence that contradicts it is either rejected or ignored.

This is the reason why uncertainties and dead-end situations have been created in questions related to the origin and ethnic identity of the ancient Indo-European speaking peoples of Asia Minor and the Armenian Highland, and the history of their interrelations with the ancient peoples of the Near East, particularly those of Mesopotamia, has been distorted or
left shrouded in darkness.

In our previous works we had invited the particular attention of our readers on Armani, mentioned by Naram-Sin, bringing forth the formation and the etymology of that name. In view of the importance this question bears upon the ancient history of the Armenian Highland and Mesopotamia, we have pursued our investigations further along this line and have discovered new
and significant data that help to elucidate the problem of the location and ethnic identity of Armani. All these have been incorporated here along with certain other points discussed earlier.

We shall investigate here the problem of the identity of the Subarians, the Armani-Subari connections and the Armani-Subari-Sumer relations. We shall mention the evidences supplied by the famous Sumerian epic tale that speaks about the interrelations between Enmerkar, the king of the Sumerian city of Erech (Uruk), and the king of the still unknown city of Aratta, around the
beginning of the third millennium B.C., and for the first time we shall draw the attention of the scholars to the fact that Aratta has been the oldest state in the Armenian Highland, particularly in the Ayrarat district.(1)

Again for the first time we shall bring forth in this study some very old data from cuneiform writings regarding the origin of the Ervanduni family and their name, stressing that the state of Armina of the Ervanduni dynasty has been the continuation of the Urartian kingdom.

As these problems were researched, it naturally became necessary to investigate also the questions related to the Hurrians, the time of their appearance in Mesopotamia and the Armenian Highland, the spreading of their language, as well as the origin of the name Hurri.

We shall also include our extended observations pertaining to the
geographical, mythological and linguistico-cultural interrelations of the Indo-European, Subarian, Semitic, and Sumerian peoples of the Near East and to other related problems.

I would like, here, to express my thanks to Professors I. Gelb, S. Kramer, P. Matthiae, G. Pettinato, 1. Diakonoff, M. Astour, S. Eremian, E. Khanzadian, G. Tiratsian, and to all the other scholars whom I have mentioned in this book for the valuable help their works have provided.

Living in America, it is easy to miss seeing the struggle for survival that goes on in the world still today. In Armenia, each day, the basic needs of survival are the paramount issue for most, that is food and water. In A Call from Home, Dr. Najarian tells a story of courage, compassion and pure determination despite many hardships. Though set in her ancestral homeland, the story could take place many other places in the world. It is a tale of the dedication she found there while helping anchor many to the world as they helped others strive for a better tomorrow as humans do all over the globe.

Book Review

Brook, Stephen. Claws of the Crab: Georgia and Armenia in Crisis. Sinclair-Stevenson, 1992.

This is another treasure of a book about the Caucasus that I unearthed from the bowels of the Wandsworth Public Library system in south London. Only one other person had borrowed it, back in September 1999 when I was working in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi. Reading this book, I discovered that Stephen Brook had got there before me when all the exciting stuff was happening at the start of the nineties. Independence from the Soviet Union, the overthrow of the tyrannical president Zviad Gamsakhurdia and the battles for Nagorno Karabakh - Brook was there or thereabouts. Studiedly sympathetic to the Armenians and guardedly admiring of the Georgians, Claws of the Crab is a rare eyewitness account of many of the events that made independent Georgia and Armenia what they are today. Suffice to say that there's been remarkably little change since the book's completion in 1992.

I had the pleasure and privilege of being a student of Lorne's for four years while studying at the Royal Military College. Not only is Lorne an inspiring teacher, he is passionate about the painful history of Armenia. Although the Armenian Genocide of 1917 barely registers on our cultural radar, it is a key trauma of the twentieth century. If you wish to be informed about the legacy such events have on post-trauma generations, any of Lorne's texts are an excellent place to go.

This is a History of Eastern Armenia in the present. Easily readible. It details the history of the Armenians and especially focuses on the eastern Armenians in the Russian empire and the Soviet state. A good resource as their are so few books on the Armenians and the tragedy of the Armenian genocide. This is a topic and a people more Americans need to learn about.

... It is really the best yet on travelling among Armenians. Mr. Marsden has a talent for juxtaposing different images through the English language and also through selecting visual adjectives in describing the Armenian character, history and the genocide. I enjoyed this book much more than Michael Arlen's which I had trouble really getting into. Mr. Marsden is honest in his reaction and description of Armenanians -- his repulsion and attraction alike. I recommend this book for anyone wishing to understand the disaspora, the genocide, the Armenian people and their tie to their land.

Charming and well written book of a young Englishman's voyage of discovery among the middle eastern diaspora of Armenians and then through the Balkans and across the Caucasus to Armenia itself. Weaves in the history and present situation of Armenians and projects a powerful and sympathetic image of perhaps the most resilient culture and people in history. Easy and enjoyable to read.

Mardsen's book is a unique combination of present travel storytelling and history. Few books have explained the Armenian people, how they think (and why), what they have been through, and what they hope for, so well. By visiting different Armenian Diaspora groups, he gets a unique perspective from Armenians everywhere, not just Armenians from the Republic or the United States. The reader can tell that Mardsen is entranced by the Armenians and their culture and this creates an extremely interesting and good read. It is also filled with quite a few interesting and little known facts about Armenians. This is a great book for anyone interested in Armenians and their culture, past and present.