One of the great novels of the 20th century - Rated 
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. The reviewer who gave this one star because it 'has very little historical value' is missing the point. When he also says he 'couldnt manage to find any reliable source which proves and/or explain the so-called genocide' (sic) he is showing that he hasn't looked very hard. The Armenian genocide has been extensively studied and documented by professional historians. It was unanimously recognised as a genocide by the International Association of Genocide Scolars in 1997. It's not difficult to access information on it today - Wikipedia will start you off and point you to other sources.
Werfel's novels deserve a much wider audience - espcially The Forty Days of Musa Dagh, arguably his masterpiece. Werfel knew how to engage a reader, heart and mind, and had the intelligence and subtlety to portray a complex conflict with real insight. A magnificent achievement.
think before you write - Rated
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 matter. This is not because the event did not exist. there is photographic evidence to show the starving masses escorted through miles of desert, and showing mass graves of these starving people. there were eye-witnesses who recorded these things happening at the time: notably Henry Morganthau, American Ambassador to Turkey at the time of the Genocide. German soldiers stationed there at the time also took photographs of the Armenians on these 'death marches', as they are now known. It astounds me that some people can be so pig-ignorant as to publically deny the Genocide, an event which effectively encouraged Hitler to carry out the Jewish Holocaust. by the way, Hitler is quoted as saying 'who today remembers the annihalation of the Armenians?'in one of his speeches, in an attempt to justify the Holocaust to his supporters. Another thing you mention is that this book is written from an Armenian viewpoint. It is not, as it is written by a Jewish author. Therefore, how is it possible that this book is biased? how can you possibly be biased when an event is so black and white? it is simple. the authorities in Turkey wanted to ethnically cleanse their nation, so they kicked out and tried to destroy the Armenians. I will not include my full argument in this review as it is too long and very detailed, and obviously too much for your uneducated mind to process. finally, how dare you attempt to dismiss the Armenian genocide as 'so-called'. have some respect for cultures and histories you are not educated about. You obviously have only heard propaganda circulated by those who benefit from denying it. You do realise that there is an increasing amount of countries who recognise the Genocide, and who also make it a crime to deny it, don't you? Switzerland is one of these, i have heard, and also France and Argentina number amoung them. The only reason why America and Britain haven't recognised it is because they have a vested interest in not recognising it: one or even both of them has a military base situated in Turkey and regard the country as a key area in the middle east in which they can neatly reach Iran, Syria and other 'problem' areas as they see it from that base. Thats all for now, do everyone a favour and re-educate yourself. you also have not considered the fact that the reason why there are so many Armenian authors of books like these is because so little has been said elsewhere about the genocide, and Armenians take resposibility for trying to spread knowledge about one of the most tragic events in history, because there are few others who will do so. To end, I urge others to by this book- it will at least give you an education about a little known event and give you a wider knowledge of world history, and important world history at that. If this book is not to your liking, there should be others out there that will interest you which explain this event. Apologies for the length, but someone had to stand up for the book, and the Armenians.
Absorbing, but very little historical value - Rated 
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 so-called genocide. I am trying to search and englighten myself regarding this subject but so far I couldnt manage to find any reliable resource which proves and/or explain the so-called genocide. I assume the current Armenian goverment's censorship on the historical documents adds a lot of difficulty, for historians to come into a definite conclusion on the subject.
Actually there is one thing certain on both sides arguments. The conflict first started between Muslim Kurds and Christian Armenians, these were the two main Ethnic groups who were living in the east part of Anatolia region(Funny enough for thousands of years they lived quite peace fully). The Turks were the ruler of the region. The Armenian bandes uprised against the Ottoman authorities with the demand of independent Armenian state and carried out ruthless attacks on Muslim Kurds.Their intention was to force the Muslim population out of the region. When this conflict started, the Turkish authority stepped in and than the struggle inflamed between the Turks and Armenians.
One more thing, the so-called genocide which is a long continued discussion between the two nation is based on very different arguments than the one which was experienced, between the Germans and Jews, during the second world war. At the time of the Armenian conflict,The Ottoman Empire was a fighting party within the first world war. So the empire already had a lot of problems to deal with.Therefore the authorities decided to move the Armenian ethnic group from one part of the Ottoman region to another part of the Ottoman region, where they can control their uprise more easily and concentrate on first world war.
Right, this is where the main disagreement is; The Turks claim that,once there was no need to keep the Armenians under extraordinary control, they allowed Armenians to come back to their original territories(On many resources Turks compare this incident's similarity with another incident, which took place during the second world war, when the American authorities moved entire Japanies ethnic group from one part of the country to another part of the country.Once the second world war was over the Japanies were allowed to go back to their home towns). The Armenians claim that they weren't allowed to go back and because of this, it falls into United Nation's one of the Genocide definition, which is; "Ethnic clearance by evacuating the entire ethnic group from certain region." Although people died during the evacuation and transfer, there is no evidence that the deaths were systematic. The Ottoman Authorities even sentenced and executed one of their governer, because he was not complying with his duty of care towards the Armenians.And due to his negligence some Armenians died.
I can only recommend this book as a good fiction novel, could be an absorbing read during a flight or so.
A Novel of Armenian wiew point of the Armenian-Ottoman relat - Rated 
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 of the tragic events of the WWI.Has very limited literature and historical value.
This book should be required reading for every student. - Rated
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.
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