The Forty Days of Musa Dagh
| The Forty Days of Musa Dagh | |
|---|---|
| Author | Franz Werfel |
| Publication Year | 1934 |
| Publisher | Viking Press |
| Short Description | Bestselling fictional novel about the Armenian Genocide resistance of Musa Dagh. |
| Format | Hardbound, Softbound, eBook |
| No. of Pages | 824 |
| Language | English, German |
| Category | Genocide, Literature & Fiction |
This stirring, poignant novel, based on real historical events that made of actual people true heroes, unfolds the tragedy that befell the Armenian people in the dark year of 1915. The Great War is raging through Europe, and in the ancient, mountainous lands southwest of the Caspian Sea the Turks have begun systematically to exterminate their Christian subjects. Unable to deny his birthright or his people, one man, Gabriel Bagradian—born an Armenian, educated in Paris, married to a Frenchwoman, and an officer doing his duty as a Turkish subject in the Ottoman army—will strive to resist death at the hands of his blood enemy by leading 5,000 Armenian villagers to the top of Musa Dagh, "the mountain of Moses." There, for forty days, in the face of almost certain death, they will suffer the siege of a Turkish army hell-bent on genocide. A passionate warning against the dangers of racism and scapegoating, and prefiguring the ethnic horrors of World War II, this important novel from the early 1930s remains the only significant treatment, in fiction or nonfiction, of the first genocide in the twentieth century’s long series of inhumanities. (Editor's review from Amazon.com)
In every sense a true and thrilling novel. It tells a story which it is almost one's duty as an intelligent human being to read. And one's duty here becomes one's pleasure also.
--The New York Times Book Review
Forty Days will invade your senses and keep the blood pounding. Once read, it will never be forgotten.
--New York Times
1934 Viking Press edition free online
Editions[edit | edit source]
- First English edition: 1934 Viking Press. Amazon ASIN-B008KP38GA or B00CMGZKXC
- Paperback 1990: Carroll & Graf Publishers ISBN 978-0881846683
- Kindle edition: Amazon ASIN-B00IX64ZFY
- Paperback 1961: Mass Market Paperback Amazon ASIN-B001PNZAD8
- Paperback 2002: Amazon ASIN-B008AU6I3A