BOOK REVIEWS
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Though she might have described her memory maps as products of specific
wartime circumstances, generalizable to similar conditions of war and decolonization elsewhere, Tamanoi, rather, echoes studies of Japanese official memory, and
her interviewees, in simply seeking an indictment of the state. Memory Maps does
not offer a convincing new conceptualization of Japanese war remembrance. But
as a captivating compendium of the complex memories of Manchuria, it is an
invaluable resource.
University of Pennsylvania
Frederick R. Dickinson
EUROPE
Armenian Golgotha: A Memoir of the Armenian Genocide, 19151918. By Grigoris
Balakian. Translated with an introduction by Peter Balakian with Aris Sevag. (New
York, N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009. Pp. xli, 509. $35.00.)
In April 1915, Grigoris Balakian, a priest in the Armenian Apostolic Church in
Constantinople, was arrested by the Young Turk government at the start of what
many experts now call the genocide of the Armenian people. This book, first
published in Armenian in 1922, recounts what happened to Balakian after his
arrest and now, for the first time, this important eye-witness account is available in an English-language version translated and edited by Peter Balakian (the
great-nephew of the author) and Aris Sevag. The editors have deleted some
sermonizing passages but state that in all other ways they have faithfully
reproduced the original (xxviii). They have also made several useful additions.
These include a chronology that puts Balakians experiences into a broader
historical perspective, and an eleven-page biographical glossary. The authors
original preface is included as an appendix. The editors have also added a guide
to further readings about the Armenian genocide.
The book is divided into two parts. Part one deals with Balakians life in
detention. From April 1915 until February 1916 he was under house arrest in
Chankiri with other intellectuals. As this was the period when a lot of the killings
of Armenians took place, Balakian was not a direct witness to these massacres.
Rather, his account of these events draws on his experiences during the second
period of his detention, when he was forced to participate in a deportation march
from Chankiri to Ayran where he would have been left to die in the desert. This
journey through Anatolia follows a route through some of the regions most
affected by Turkish actions. Part two of the book is entitled Life as a Fugitive
and details his escape from Ayran and his journey back to Constantinople
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THE HISTORIAN
disguised as a German. Balakian was able to carry this off because he had studied
theology and engineering at Berlin and Mittweida, respectively.
The publication of this book is timely because Turkey and Armenia have begun
a process of normalization of relations. This includes a willingness on the Turkish
side to allow historians from both countries to examine the events discussed by
Balakian, and one can hope that this volume might contribute further to this
important debate. However, it does suffer from two drawbacks as an historical
record. The first, as already noted, is that the author is rarely a direct witness to
killings even if his own personal experiences confirm that something terrible was
inflicted on the Armenians. The second is that there is a strong anti-Turkish
sentiment that breaks through the narrative on occasions. Of course, a degree of
hostility towards Turks is to be expected, given what the author witnessed.
Nonetheless, statements such as the Ottoman empire left no traces or memory of
civilization except massacre, plunder, forced Islamization, and abduction may
provide an excuse for some Turks not to listen to what he has to say (419).
As part of the literature of witness therefore the book may have its limitations.
It also lacks the depth and insight of classics in this genre such as Primo Levis If
This Is a Man and Nadezhda Mandelstams Hope Against Hope. Nonetheless,
this is an important story for anyone seeking an understanding of what happened
to the Armenians during the First World War and there is no doubt that this
translation will ensure that Grigoris Balakians shocking and powerful story will
reach a wider audience.
University of Ulster
Stephen Ryan
The Vertigo Years: Europe, 19001914. By Philipp Blom. (New York, N.Y.: Basic
Books, 2008. Pp. xi, 453. $29.95.)
The author of this book asks his readers in the introduction to imagine the last
years of Europe before World War I without the knowledge that the war was
imminent. Thus Vertigo Years is clearly not a history of the Europe that created
the war. It is instead largely a history of the intellectual avant-garde in Europe and
its reaction to the major changes the continent experienced in these years. The
focus is on a group of artists, writers, and thinkers and how they interpreted the
first years of the twentieth century.
The book has two central themes: speed and a crisis of masculinity. The first
theme refers to the quickening pace of change in these years of industrial development, the spread of the automobile, and the beginning of air travel. Philipp
Blom also presents an extensive look at the ways that industrialization and the
