BANGER OF THE WEEK: Looking Toward Ararat

If you're interested in doing business, visiting, or dating in Armenia, then this is the book for you, hands down. It completely explains the national mindset forming in the 5th century and working its way to the 20th and after. The Hamidian Massacres of 1895, Genocide of 1915, Soviet terror and much else is expanded on.

Each of these events left a specific taste in the mouths of many Armenians, some of whom were unfortunate enough to live through several in a single lifetime. As a previous review will attest, the Armenians are a very family-oriented people (keeping to communal family organisation) and I don't doubt these unfortunately experienced people influenced the mindset of their successors.

I'm beating a dead horse in saying that the similarities with my own country are staggering, but the mythomoteur of this people resonates quite closely with my own and I fundamentally get their struggle. As far as the book's high and low points, I would say the high point is the 1915-1940 period where it explains the Genocide, First Republic, Soviet Invasion, and subsequent flowering and trampling under the Soviet eye.

It's a book that definitely took me aback as far as what I thought I knew about a country I'm soon visiting - also detailed is the examination of the NGK conflict, but the book tapers off at the 21st century as that's when it was written. Regardless, an excellent tome for its time and a sure BANGER OF THE WEEK.
10/10