A Shameful Act; The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility

New York, NY: Metropolitan Books [Henry Holt and Company], 2006. First U.S. Edition [stated], First printing [stated]. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. xii, 483, [1] pages. Includes Map, Preface, Author's note, Notes, Acknowledgments, and Index. Small black mark on bottom edge of the book. Slight scuffing on front and back dust jacket. Altu Taner Akçam (born in Ardahan, Turkey, October 23, 1953) is a Turkish-German historian and sociologist. He is one of the first Turkish academics to acknowledge and openly discuss the Armenian Genocide, and is recognized as a "leading international authority" on the subject. Akçam argues for an attempt to reconcile the differing Armenian and Turkish narratives of the genocide, and to move away from the behavior which uses those narratives to support national stereotypes. "We have to rethink the problem and place both societies in the centre of our analysis. This change of paradigm should focus on creating a new cultural space that includes both societies, a space in which both sides have the chance to learn from each other." Beginning in 1915, some one million Armenians were killed through starvation, forced marches, and mass acts of slaughter. Although Armenians and the judgment of history have held the Ottoman powers responsible, modern Turkey has rejected such claims. In a pioneering work, 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 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. A Shameful Act is sure to take its lasting place as a classic and necessary work on the subject.