The thirty-year genocide Turkey's destruction of its Christian minorities, 1894-1924

This reviewer thought that he had read most, if not all, of the definitive books dealing with the Ottoman genocide and ethnic cleansings of the Armenians prior to and during WWI, especially Taner Akçam and Fatma Müge Göçek's outstanding books (CH, Jul'96, 33-6488), (CH, Dec'11, 49-2253), (CH, Apr'15, 52-4383). But this book by Morris and Ze'evi, two well-known Israeli historians, is another brilliant study. Its major contribution is that it includes not just the genocide of Armenians, but also Ottoman destruction of the Greek and much of other Christian communities in Turkey and parts of the Middle East from 1894 to 1924. The authors are emphatic that Ottoman and Turkish intentions to diminish and eradicate these groups were more intentional and crueler than previously thought. The book is powerfully written. The authors do not mince words. They conclude that the "destruction of the Christians communities was the result of deliberate government policy and the will of the country's Muslim inhabitants." The authors compare this period to the anti-Semitism, discrimination, and cultural annihilation that let to the genocide of European Jews in 20th-century Europe. The book will heighten the tensions, arguments, and differences, not only among scholars, but in other countries and peoples--especially among Christians, Muslims, and Jews. Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. --Robert W. Olson, emeritus, University of Kentucky

PATSY, by Nicole Dennis-Benn. (Liveright, $26.95.) The title character of Dennis-Benn's second novel leaves her young daughter behind in Jamaica when she comes to America as an undocumented immigrant to reconnect with a female lover. The book avoids cliché, finding ample pleasure with the pain and sacrifice. A GOOD AMERICAN FAMILY: The Red Scare and My Father, by David Maraniss. (Simon & Schuster, $28.) With poignant honesty, Maraniss, a skilled biographer and historian, scrutinizes the life of his father, a communist sympathizer who was subpoenaed before the House Un-American Activities Committee, harassed by the F.B.I. and blacklisted in his career as a newspaperman. THE MAKING OF A JUSTICE: Reflections on My First 94 Years, by John Paul Stevens. (Little, Brown, $35.) The 99-year-old Stevens looks back on his 35 years as a justice on the Supreme Court, reflecting on cases in which he played a key role and also on larger themes like the shape of American democracy. CLYDE FANS: A Picture Novel, by Seth. (Drawn & Quarterly, $54.95.) Twenty years in the making, this substantial graphic novel tells a multi-generational story of a family-owned electrical fan business in Toronto - the ups and downs of livelihoods tied to sales and fathers and sons who grapple with changing times. MRS. EVERYTHING, by Jennifer Weiner. (Atria, $28.) Balancing her signature wit with a political voice that's new to her fiction, Weiner tells the story of the women's movement through the lives of two sisters raised in 1950s Detroit. The book holds up the prism of choice and lets light shine through from every angle. DEAF REPUBLIC: Poems, by Ilya Kaminsky. (Graywolf, paper, $16.) This extraordinary poetry collection is structured as a two-act play, in which an occupying army kills a deaf boy and villagers respond by marshaling a wall of silence as a source of resistance. "Our hearing doesn't weaken," one poem declares, "but something silent in us strengthens." THE LAND OF FLICKERING LIGHTS: Restoring America in an Age of Broken Politics, by Michael Bennet. (Atlantic Monthly, $27.) The Colorado senator and Democratic presidential candidate presents his views, based on personal experience, of the partisan stalemate in Washington and how to overcome it. RUNNING TO THE EDGE: A Band of Misfits and the Guru Who Unlocked the Secrets of Speed, by Matthew Futterman. (Doubleday, $28.95.) A deputy sports editor at The Times profiles the coach who helped make American distance runners a threat. THE THIRTY-YEAR GENOCIDE: Turkey's Destruction of Its Christian Minorities, 1894-1924, by Benny Morris and Dror Ze'evi. (Harvard, $35.) This study ventures beyond the well-known Armenian death marches to attacks on other minorities as well. The full reviews of these and other recent books are on the web: nytimes.com/books