$16.92
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
FREE delivery Saturday, May 11 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Or fastest delivery Friday, May 10. Order within 6 hrs 15 mins
In Stock
$$16.92 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$16.92
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Ships from
Amazon.com
Ships from
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Returns
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Returns
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Payment
Secure transaction
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the authors

Giles Milton
Follow
Giles Milton
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Paradise Lost: Smyrna 1922 - The Destruction of Islam's City of Tolerance Paperback – International Edition, May 28, 2009

by Giles Milton (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 312 ratings
See all formats and editions
{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$16.92","priceAmount":16.92,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"16","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"92","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"vyjY9f7ScPTeiacPiXDMP55VdTWWbLDgQI0gzq6NgIhuTnspOXFf%2BOQgMEQnjP5s5hUceETmVidDrTIrNH5zR%2BKaJG6NCnqfKIlP6vJzJDqMkULKeQJQ7wIandjcwhyRWzQH%2BuQguqJIqhwfUW79tA%3D%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

Paradise Lost
Previous page
  1. Print length
    464 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    John Murray
  4. Publication date
    May 28, 2009
  5. Dimensions
    5.08 x 1.1 x 7.8 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    034083787X
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0340837870
  8. See all details
Next page
The Amazon Book Review
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.

Frequently bought together

Paradise Lost: Smyrna 1922 - The Destruction of Islam's City of Tolerance
$16.92
Get it as soon as Saturday, May 11
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
Smyrna, September 1922: The American Mission to Rescue Victims of the 20th Century's First Genocide
$15.13
Get it as soon as Saturday, May 11
Only 15 left in stock (more on the way).
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
Not Even My Name
$14.82
Get it as soon as Monday, May 13
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
Sold by Mirage Image and ships from Amazon Fulfillment.
Total price:
To see our price, add these items to your cart.
Details
Added to Cart
Some of these items ship sooner than the others.
Show details Hide details
Choose items to buy together.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ John Murray; First Paperback Edition (May 28, 2009)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 464 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 034083787X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0340837870
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.4 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.08 x 1.1 x 7.8 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 312 ratings

About the authors

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Previous page
  1. Giles Milton

    Giles Milton

    Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Visit www.gilesmilton.com

    'The master of narrative history' - Sunday Times.

    Giles Milton is an internationally best-selling author of narrative non-fiction. His latest book is Checkmate in Berlin: The Cold War Showdown That Shaped the Modern World. Previous books include D-Day: The Soldiers' Story and Churchill's Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, which was a Sunday Times best-seller.

    Other titles include Nathaniel's Nutmeg - serialised by the BBC - and seven other critically acclaimed works of history.

    Giles lives in London with his wife, the illustrator Alexandra Milton, and three daughters.

    See more on the author's page
  2. Giles Milton

    Giles Milton

    Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    www.gilesmilton.com

    'The master of narrative history' - Sunday Times.

    Giles Milton is the million-copy, internationally best-selling author of narrative non-fiction. His forthcoming book (UK: May 2024, US: Sept 2024) is THE STALIN AFFAIR: The Allies' Secret Mission to Wartime Russia. Previous books include CHECKMATE IN BERLIN: The First Battle of the Cold War; CHURCHILL'S MINISTRY OF UNGENTLEMANLY WARFARE; NATHANIEL'S NUTMEG - serialised by the BBC - and nine other critically acclaimed works of history.

    Giles Milton wrote and narrated the acclaimed Sony podcast, MINISTRY OF SECRETS.

    Giles lives in London, UK, with his wife, the illustrator Alexandra Milton, and three daughters.

    See more on the author's page
Next page

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
312 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Chris G
5.0 out of 5 stars This book gave me an excellent incite an part of history which is rarely told
Reviewed in the United States on October 2, 2014
Verified Purchase
This book gave me an excellent incite an part of history which is rarely told. It put into perspective the life my grandmother lived and lost and the suffering that followed the events around the establishment of the Turkish Republic and the exchange of populations.
Well researched, with a clear description of the political environment leading to the end of a life in 'Paradise'. Easy to follow and a gripping read.
6 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Victor
5.0 out of 5 stars Wow
Reviewed in the United States on February 16, 2017
Verified Purchase
That was a emotional rollercoaster. It takes you deep into the old world and you can almost breath and taste and smell Smyrna at its peak. Amazing book strong recommend.
4 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Kindle Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Sobering look at the history and disaster of Smyrna. ...
Reviewed in the United States on December 1, 2015
Verified Purchase
Sobering look at the history and disaster of Smyrna. My family came from this area and it has some real meaning.
3 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Great vendor and very good book
Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2019
Verified Purchase
Great service. Very interesting book.
Helpful
 Report
S M COLLINS
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on November 24, 2015
Verified Purchase
A brilliant account of a tragic and horrific period of 20th century history.
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Zeynep Menlikli
5.0 out of 5 stars haven't red yet but in good condition physically
Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2010
Verified Purchase
The book looks great and arrived shortly after my order. I cannot say a thing about the book itself, I am going to read it soon I hope.
Helpful
 Report
K. MCBRIDE
5.0 out of 5 stars OUTSTANDING!
Reviewed in the United States on March 27, 2016
Another brilliantly researched and written historic narrative by Giles Milton! I have read all of his books, but this tragic atrocity committed against innocent humans while of critical importance to record for posterity is nearly beyond comprehension to read of the darkness of human arrogance, ignorance, intolerance and simply evil. Of course, there are numerous examples of the cruelty of humans across the spectrum of recorded history. Of recent examples, the Imperial Japanese rape of Nanking, China, NAZI Holocaust, and a parallel genocide as Smyrna in the breakup of Yugoslavia and the pursuit by Slobodan Milosevic of a “Greater Serbia” resulting in crimes against humanity. I should mention the Bush/Cheney U.S. war crime based on hubris of invading Iraq and the subsequent development of ISIS. There is plenty of guilt to attribute for this tragedy from the British Prime Minister Lloyd George, the Greek leader Venizelos, the arrogant myopic American Admiral Bristol, and Kemal Mustafa (Ataturk). It was fortunate for Turkish Nationalists of Ataturk that the Western Allies were exhausted from the catastrophe of WWI, Russia’s Civil War leading to the Soviet Union in 1922 along with the United States “Return to Normalcy” of President Harding. For then, the response of the League of Nations to Ataturk’s message that Ataturk took “no responsibility for any breakdown in law and order” in Smyrna may well have been answered with “Yes You Are Responsible!” with perhaps a consequential different outcome. No, in contrast to Turkish apologists, the horrific fire in Smyrna was not an act of sabotage but an act of murder! If the International Court of Justice of the United Nations (UN) existed in 1922, Kemal Mustafa (Ataturk), Turkish General Noureddin would have been tried as war criminals, similar to Serbian Slobodan Milosevic accused of similar crimes against humanity in 1999. The annihilation of Smyrna in 1922 was a continuance of the previous Ottoman government's systematic extermination of Armenian subjects and other indigenous ethnic groups as the Assyrians and Greeks starting 1915 with genocide killing of male population through massacre followed by the deportation of women, children, elderly and infirm on death marches into the Syrian desert. As an aside, The denial of the Armenian Genocide by Turkey, acknowledged by genocide scholars to have been one of the first modern, systematic genocides is historical revisionism similar to Holocaust denial, yet the State of Israel officially does not recognize the Armenian Genocide. François-Marie Arouet (Voltaire) stated, “Those who can make you believe in absurdities can make you commit atrocities!”
9 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Amazon Customer
3.0 out of 5 stars A Difficult Portrayal
Reviewed in the United States on November 6, 2016
Verified Purchase
The author kept you on the edge of your seat, always promising worse to come. The tragic circumstances of the Smyrna disaster made it difficult to want more; more honesty, brutality, hopelessness. I commend the author for the research done, and details uncovered, but a narrative propelled by violence made for guilty reading.
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
ag
5.0 out of 5 stars Recommend
Reviewed in Canada on March 23, 2022
Verified Purchase
Written in narrative.. very good.. worth the read. First hand account of what happened.
Report
Arcadius
5.0 out of 5 stars Der Weg in die Katastrophe
Reviewed in Germany on February 5, 2023
Verified Purchase
Smyrna war eine prosperierende multikulturelle Stadt, geprägt von seinen levantinischen Unternehmerfamilien die die Wirtschaft zum Nutzen aller Volksgruppen dominieren. Eine der reichsten Steuerprovinzen des osmanischen Reiches, verwaltet vom weitsichtigen Rhami Bey, welcher die Stadt vor Krieghandlungen im 1. Weltkrieg bewahren kann. Auch mit der griechischen Besetzung der Region bewahrt Gouverneur Stergiadis die Stadt mit seinem umsichtigem Handeln vor Schlimmeren. Doch mit dem Abzug der griechischen Armee und der kampflosen Übergabe der Stadt zieht die Apokalypse in Gestalt des kemalistischen Heeres ein. Soldaten und Irreguläre plündern vergewaltigen und morden ungehindert die christlichen Stadtviertel. Unter Oberbefehlshaber General Noureddin wird die von 100 Tausenden von Flüchtlingen überfüllten christlichen Stadtviertel mit Kerosin in Brand gesetzt. Während Kemal Pasha in einer Vorstadtvilla den Sieg feiert fürchten 100 Tausende Griechen und Armenier eingeschlossen zwischen Feuer, Meer und eine erbarmungslosen Soldadeska um ihr Leben. In All diesem Grauen erscheint die Rettung in der Gestalt des kleinen Methodistenpredigers Asa Johnson. Mit seinem unglaublichen Willen nötigt er Mächtigere zu einer großen Evakuierungsaktion für die Überlebenden nach Griechenland. Ein kleiner unbekannter Held wurde zum Retter Tausender, während türkische und westliche Militärs das Morden jederzeit beenden hätten können.
Report
Penguin
5.0 out of 5 stars A piece of mastery which brings to life a historical event
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 8, 2017
Verified Purchase
This is the first book I read on the subject so my assessment is narrowly based on this book alone rather than a wider context. The score is for the technical merits of this book; and "I love it" is not in the sense of pleasure or enjoyment in reading this book because the content should make us uncomfortable and squeamish over the atrocities committed against humanity,

Just as I finished reading the book, President Trump of the US has ordered missile attack on Syria as a response to Assad's chemical attack on a ISIS held town. The civil war is into its seventh year, and many have been displaced and Europe faces a refugee crisis from Syria. An overarching impression that this book gives is one of volatility and instability of that region of Asia Minor. The necessary consequence of the destruction of Smyrna was a refugee crisis. It brings home that what we are confronted today is nothing new.

The author's mastery in piecing individual eyewitness accounts into a coherent recounting of the event as it unfolded is very impressive. He skilfully zooms in and out so that we have the micro details as we follow the eyewitnesses without losing sight of the big picture in geopolitics. But this book is largely about the former with the latter as the backdrop. It is a book about the people. I don't know how the author does it but reading this book was as if we saw the events unfolding with our own eyes like a first-hand account - yes, it's good. It is not an historical analysis, which would have read more detached.. Rather this book is a historical record of what actually happened, which need to be straightened out first. This is personal and gives a voice to the victims, the survivors and the lost. Sadly there were still many remain as a statistic, faceless and unknown.

The account of the destruction of Smyrna brings us face to face with the human nature of excess. When we take revenge, we won't go for an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth if it were left to our own devices. The Old Testament law is to restrain evil. When people do not heed to the law, each round of revenge will only escalate the level of violence, cruelty and atrocities, until we have purged the last of the enemy from our land. This was what the Turks did to the Greeks, who were cruel to the Turks when they enjoyed the advantage first. Before the Holocaust in the Second World War, we have the destruction of Smyrna where Greeks and Armenians were tortured, violated, looted and massacred with brutality in September 1922. It is very sobering to stare into such an ugly reflection of human nature and what is more sobering is that this capability of monstrous acts is in the nature of each one of us. When I was reading the book, I did not feel morally superior, but was made acutely aware of the shared responsibility. There were human errors in judgement along the way, precipitating and magnifying the crisis and there was tardiness in coming to aid. In contrast, there was also heroic acts like Jennings' who managed to mobilise the Allied's resources to evacuate the refugees albeit limited to women and children. It is soul-searching for us especially pertinent in asking, "what is our attitude towards the refugee crisis today on our doorstep?" I think the reflections that the book provokes have a lot of relevance for today.

Another warning from this historical event is that racial tension takes a long time to ease and heal but takes only a moment to incite out of proportion. It can easily get out of hand. Restraint and disciplines is not easy to exert once the flare has gone out of hand. We must be careful with our speech and should never turn one group of people against another. It is not a fire that we should play for personal political gain, and we should never have too much confidence in ourselves to put out the fire at our will. In this book, we can see the extent of human wickedness such force can unleash. "Their inward part is destruction. Their throat is an open tomb. They flatter with their tongue." (Psalm 5:9)

What surprises me a little however is the lack of mention of personal faith journey in a crisis of a magnitude like this one. Did the eyewitnesses have any faith at all, especially when the persecuted were mostly Christians? What kind of questions did they ask God and what were their spiritual struggles in coming to terms with, in sustaining faith and hope through it and in healing after it? Were there any spiritual reflections having been purged and refined by the fire (literally)? It would be incredulous if no one in their diaries jot down these inner thoughts. I wonder if the author has deliberately screened them out and restricted himself to accounting "facts". If you are Christian, an understanding without the spiritual dimension will not be complete. Furthermore, the eyewitness accounts are from the survivors (Europeans, Americans, officials, marines, Greeks and Armenians); there is no first-hand account from the viewpoints of the Turks. I wonder why.

Here is a human perspective in making sense of what she saw:
"It seems to her [Lovejoy - an American doctor who played a leading role in the humanitarian rescue] how men, women and children who had experienced unspeakable atrocities nevertheless clung to life with hope and conviction for the future: 'Fortunately, there seems to be a point at which human beings become incapable of further suffering. A point where reason and sensation fail, and faith, cooperating with the instincts of self-preservation and race preservation, takes control, releasing sub-human and super-human reservoirs of strength and endurance which are not called upon under civilised conditions of life.'" (p. 362)
18 people found this helpful
 Report
CHARLES E RAPLEY
5.0 out of 5 stars A great account of a tragic event
Reviewed in Canada on February 26, 2017
Verified Purchase
An interesting presentation of the history leading up to and during this horrible massacre.
Report
Oskewowow
5.0 out of 5 stars Vergessene Vergangenheit
Reviewed in Germany on September 15, 2014
Verified Purchase
Man kann die Moderne Griechen besser verstehen nachdem man ihre Geschichte nachliest. Es gibt konkrete und klare Einsichten in ihre Vergangenheit.
Report