This stirring, poignant novel, based on real historical events that made of actual people true heroes, unfolds the tragedy that befell the Armenian people in the dark year of 1915. The Great War is raging through Europe, and in the ancient, mountainous lands southwest of the Caspian Sea the Turks have begun systematically to exterminate their Christian subjects. Unable to deny his birthright or his people, one man, Gabriel Bagradianborn an Armenian, educated in Paris, married to a Frenchwoman, and an officer doing his duty as a Turkish subject in the Ottoman armywill strive to resist death at the hands of his blood enemy by leading 5,000 Armenian villagers to the top of Musa Dagh, the mountain of Moses. There, for forty days, in the face of almost certain death, they will suffer the siege of a Turkish army hell-bent on genocide. A passionate warning against the dangers of racism and scapegoating, and prefiguring the ethnic horrors of World War II, this important novel from the early 1930s remains the only significant treatment, in fiction or nonfiction, of the first genocide in the twentieth centurys long series of inhumanities. It also continues to be today what the New York Times deemed it in 1933a true and thrilling novel ... a story which must rouse the emotions of all human beings. Musa Dagh gives us a lasting sense of participation in a stirring episode of history.... Magnificent.The New York Times Book Review A novel full of the breath, the flesh and blood and bone and spirit of life.Saturday Review
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
30 of 31 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
This book should be required reading for every student. Werfel writes an excellent in-depth novel about the genocide of the Armenians in World War I.
What is particularly chilling is that Werfel went on a lecture tour about the book in Germany just before Hitler's ascent to power. This did not prevent the German people from participating in the genocide of the Jews. Apparently, people learn nothing from history, even if forewarned.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
This book tells the story of the resistance of Armenians in Syria to the turkish genocidal campaign during World War I. Particularly chilling is the interview of the german pastor with the turkish dictator, where every logical argument is twisted on its ear. This book gives the reader a thorough understanding of the processes behind a genocide, and tells a story in a gripping fashion. Love, betrayal, heroism; this book has it all.
24 of 26 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
This book unveils the truth about the Ottoman Emipire's geoncide of the Armenians. The parallels between the treatment of the Armenians by the Ottomans and of the Jews, gypsies, and other "undesirables" by the Nazis is frightening. Despite the horror of the topic, the story is beautifully written and deeply moving. This book is similar in its treatment of a painful subject to the work of Leon Uris in such books as Armageddon and Mila 18. In an added irony, the author, Franz Werfel, a Jew, had to be saved from the Nazis.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Greatest novel of XX century
I read this book in German and I'm reading now the 1936 Finnish translation. After reading the novel I started to look for more information about the 1915 events in Turkey. Read more
Published on 9 Aug 2010 by Heinrich Pesch
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the great novels of the 20th century
This is above all a great novel, by a largely forgotten writer. While based on historical events, it is not intended as a history book. Read more
Published on 27 May 2007 by I. Boyd
5.0 out of 5 stars
think before you write
First and foremost, this book helps to highlight an important event in history, which is unfortunately not taught in the history syllabus in schools, nor in university for that... Read more
Published on 20 Mar 2007 by A Historian
1.0 out of 5 stars
Absorbing, but very little historical value
Absorbing but very little historical value. The book is written only from the Armenians point of view, and a lot of stuff in this book only rely on people's quotations for the... Read more
Published on 19 Jan 2007 by William Gerard
2.0 out of 5 stars
A Novel of Armenian wiew point of the Armenian-Ottoman relat
This is a mediocre novel.If you are an Armenian extract or an anti-Turkish prejudist,you might enjoy the dream world of an obscure German writer about the one sided baseless wiew... Read more
Published on 2 Aug 1999
5.0 out of 5 stars
understanding genocide
I have read this book in my country in Turkey. It is really shamefull what the Ottoman did against to our Armenian friends. Read more
Published on 12 May 1999
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Historical Novel One of A Kind!
A Historical Novel that was on the best seller charts for months. Read this book to educate yourself not to repeat HISTORY again. Read more
Published on 19 Oct 1998
5.0 out of 5 stars
A THRILLING NOVEL OF LIFE OF ARMENIANS AND THERE STRUGLES
One of the best books that I have read. Being armenian I can relate to this story.
Published on 19 Oct 1998
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