“The Great Fire” (Ecco), by Lou Ureneck
It reads like a story drawn from contemporary headlines: U.S. Navy warships deployed to the Middle East; ISIS-like beheadings and other atrocities targeted at Christians; fears in Washington about denial of access to the region’s vital oil supplies.
But this harrowing account goes back nearly a century, focusing on the 1922 destruction of Smyrna, the richest and most cosmopolitan jewel of the moribund Ottoman Empire, and a sickly American missionary’s effort to spearhead the rescue of 250,000 Greek and Armenian refugees.
It’s a long-forgotten humanitarian feat brought to life in Lou Ureneck’s spellbinding history of the final chapter in what many regard as the first genocide of the 20th century. An estimated 3 million Christians perished in the 10-year holocaust, a template for more extensive mass slaughters and ethnic cleansings in years to come.
The stage was set for the final round of killings when the Turkish nationalist army under Mustapha Kemal defeated Greek forces that had been sent to the region to stave off its seizure by Italy. The victorious Turks then went on a rampage of murder, rape and robbery in which Smyrna was set ablaze and its people left homeless and starving.
The unlikely hero of the unfolding tragedy was Asa Jennings, a 44-year-old Methodist minister from upstate New York who arrived in Smyrna with his family the previous month to begin a new job at the local YMCA.
A small man with a big spirit who believed that disabilities can help build character, Jennings was the lone American civilian who remained in Smyrna as it was consumed by fire over three days. He became a familiar figure, roaming the charred streets to rescue orphans, rape victims and wounded refugees and find safe houses in which they could wait out the carnage. Jerry Harkavy, AP
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