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Religious Book Store > Religious books beginning with D
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Death and Exile: The Ethnic Cleansing of Ottoman Muslims, 1821-1922 |
Author: Justin McCarthy
Published: 1996-03 |
List price: $35.00
Our price: $34.30
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As of: January 08th, 2009 01:51:15 PM
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Customer comments on this selection.
 Would be better if more geographical specific.
Having read through the book and understanding that it touches on a number of issues that are obviously sensitive to some I must say I found it rather thin on detail and far too sweeping.
The book is concerning the Ottoman Muslims as defined by the Bosnian, Albanian, Bulgarian Turk, East Anatolian, Tatar and Caucasian Muslims who were murdered, raped, forcibly deported and had their land and property stolen during the Balkan war and Russian expansion.
Specific areas the book covers are Greece, Bulgaria, Eastern Anatolia, The Crimea and the Caucuses. Brief mention is made of Albania also. One of the main problems with the book is it covers such a vast geographical area and historical period that its attention to real detail is a little thin. It covers history from the Balkan wars up to the formation of the Turkish republic. It would be like writing a 368 page book on the history of Central Europe during world wars one and two and expecting to have detail on the various war crimes, massacres, and population expulsions. I feel it would have been a lot better if he had remained on one specific area such as the Balkans (Much in the same way he covers the Armenian rebellion in Van)
McCarthy is correct in stating that the plight of Ottoman Muslims is largely unknown in the West and a large part of Greek , Bulgarian and Balkan history has been airbrushed. Where he is over simplistic is in his assumption that everyone in the west regards history as some kind of "civilization vs barbarianism" and that regardless of the results conquest of a people of a different religion or ethnic group is something celebrated.
I also feel McCarthy has gotten himself a little too caught up in the official historical line of most Balkan countries "Turkey forged out of the ashes of an Empire" "The Greeks deep knowledge and pride in their history" etc.... It is doubtful that village Greeks in Central Anatolia had time to study Greek epics any more than the Turkish villager in Bulgaria or southern Greece sat about reading the Shahname.
The book also fails to answer some points such as the Russian push into the Caucuses. Why would the Russians simply depopulate an entire Geographical area, repopulate it with "Russians" (Does he mean Cossacks?) and then offer the local Muslims the choice of expulsion or removal to another part of the Russian empire? Was it simply conquest or was it for strategic reasons in which case, is this not the same argument the Turkish government uses for the deportation of Armenians during WW1? Why did the Russians choose to put Armenian families in Georgian ares when there are ethnic differences and conflicts between the two groups (Was McCarthy not aware of this when he decided to share with us that information?) Or was McCarthy far to concerned with seeing the conflict as "Christian Vs Muslim"?
This is a fascinating subject and one that is rarely studied (which is why I give it 4 stars) I would however, recommend the books of Shaw or Inalcik over McCarthy based upon this one (Though I did find his "Armenian rebellion in Van" Much better) I feel because he has tried to make this book more of a "General history" one he has skimmed far too many subjects and lacked real attention to detail.
I have deliberately not mentioned his chapters on Armenia and the conflict in Eastern Anatolia as looking at previous reviewers if you say there was a genocide then you are anti/Muslim anti/Turk if you say there was not you are an "Irvin holocaust denier" Hopefully the time will come when amazon wises up and actually publishes customer reviews and not customer rants on its website.
 What the Propagandists don't want you to Know!
This book was a very interesting read, I really enjoyed how Dr. Justin McCarthy can go into such detail and put all these tragedies and events into it's proper historical context. It's important to understand the history and context in order to draw conclusions from events. Propagandists give bad ratings to this book to keep you from reading the truth, check the sources, and I bet you won't find a single problem with this book. The information is verifiable and scholarly. You will not be able to put it down once you get into it!
Do not be intimidated by others who want you to draw different conclusion from history, on either side of the political spectrum, this book is definitely objective and reading it cannot harm you.
 balderdash
The book's author stands on par with David Irving, and should be subject to his own Deborah Lipstadt trial. The argument that Turks (oh, sorry, the "Ottoman Muslims"), were the victims of vindictive minorities hence their killings of millions of non-Muslims, amounts to a Mein Kampf for the Young Turks; written post-facto and by a man who graduated from a Turkish university, and is everywhere promoted by the Turkish embassy as a spokesman for the "Turkish side of the argument" in the Armenian genocide "debate". The book amounts to an Alfred Rosemberg the Myth of the Twentieth (in this case nineteenth) Century, perhaps worth having for the sheer propaganda value. Everyone of its claims is baloney.
First off, from 18th century onwards, Turks were killed in return for the massacres, oppressions, purges, and persecutions they perpetrated through their decaying empire. The numbers of these Turkish victims far outweighs the number of Turks, without even counting the Pontic or Armenian genocides! The Turks bequeathed a lasting innovation to their subject peoples, blood-vengance. They reaped what they sowed, while the Balkans are still sowing.
Second, speaking of five million, is close to ludicrous. The greatest loss of Turkish life occured due to dislocation, and population movements, caused by aggresive Ottoman policies. i.e. you may as well read about the influensa following World War I, or deaths associated with dislocation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is immoral and proposterous to compare such loss of life to the systematic, premedited murder of non-Muslim ottoman subjects.
Third, McCarthy waxes ad nauseum about Russia and the Russian empire, its role in destroying the Ottomans, and the countless massacres perpertrated against Moslems His account is historically inacurate, a relic of 19th century Anglo-Turkish propaganda. Unlike the Ottomans, the Russian empire, equally decrepid and decaying as the Ottoman, had never ordered systematic genocide of anyone, people or religion. Forced relocation was the order of the day. Resulting deaths are not dissmisible, but again, distinctions of intent are crucial. If one takes into account the number of ethnically Slavic deaths resulting from these dislocations, the number will easily match Turkey's. Should the case be made to excuse these deaths by virtue of Russia's historic participation in the Great Game?
Russia's wars with Turkey go back centuries, and territories changed hand regularly. Muslim populations in the Russian empire, had official protection from St. Petersburg, and were not subject to discriminatory taxation, nor discriminatory law (treatment is an aside). The same cannot be said of the Ottoman millet system nor of the enforced Jizya.
The degree of brutality with which Turks treated subject peoples, was also of another scale than the largely lackadaisical and ignorant treatment the Russians meted out to their non-Russian subjects. The assertion that Turkey is to be absolved of its crimes against humanity due to it centuries of rivalry with the Tzar's, is simply absurd. Equal claims could be made about Persian-Ottoman rivalry, but they would fall on deaf ears since Persia falls beyond McCarthy's apologetic narrative.
Fourth, McCarthy gleefuly, and deliberately misrepresents the Armenian question, Armenian history, and Armenian claims to their ancient homeland. Subject to discriminatory treatment for centuries, expropriation of land, and religiously ordained religious persecution, Armenians shouldn't be made to pay double by having their national aspirations reduced to piffle with McCarthy's apologetics.
Poor, shody, and offensive work. A must have for anyone interested in the genre. I.e. washington lobbyists for Ankara's cause.
Informative and intelligent
Yes, I did read this book and enjoyed it purely from a historical standpoint. No, I did not bring any preconceived notions of which side is right in the genocide argument. I don't really care. In reading the comments by others (do read them for a laugh), one reviewer was correct when he/she pointed out that most who write reviews on this subject matter likely haven't read it to begin with. I agree that the world is quite a different place from 90 years ago. The question that people should ask one another is: Are we going to learn from this or repeat the same mistakes? Read this book, and I would suggest "The Armenian Massacres in Ottoman Turkey: A Disputed Genocide". Both are well-written and free of the diarrheal propaganda that flows on the subject and prevents intelligent analysis/discussion. Again, view some of the other reviews and you'll get the idea. The Armenian Diaspora attempts to label anything that goes against their viewpoints as "denialist", and to prevent any analysis that might destabilize their position. I have gotten rather sick of trying to find unbiased books on this topic, but I would agree with another reviewer in suggesting that they move on and get a life. As a final point, the Ottoman Empire (or even Ottoman Turkey) is NOT present-day Turkey, and has not been so since 1923 when the country was founded. I think that it is always good to look at a current map and know what was what and what is what now when reading history. Happy reading.
The most prominent Armenian Genocide denier in the world
Mr. Justin McCarthy is probably the most prominent denier of the Armenian Genocide. It is no secret that he officially works as an adviser to the turkish government and therefor entirely reflects the turkish denialist position in his works on the Armenian Genocide.
Due to the fact that the denialist position of the turkish government today is nearly entirely based on McCarthy's works, he has become the most important figure in Turkey's denial campaign. He can therefor be considered the 'David Irving' of Turkish revisionism.
This book is definitely a perfect example of historical revisionism and Genocide denial. It can only be recommended to readers who are interested in Turkey's denial-campagin and want to take a closer look at the denier's argumentation.
For everyone who wants to get acquainted with the facts of the Armenian Genocide, there are plenty of reliable books on this issue written by various prominent european and american historians.
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