Excerpt about the book:
Paradise Lost is a tale of greed, brutality and cynical realpolitik. It is also a story of extraordinary heroism. One man - an American named Asa Jennings - was to save the lives of 250,000 desperate refugees.
It was the greatest humanitarian rescue mission of the early 20th century.
Paradise Lost is a unique work of historical narrative. It is drawn from the hitherto unknown diaries and journals of Levantine Smyrna and recreates the twilight world of the doomed city.
Asa Kent Jennings (1877–1933) was a Methodist pastor from upstate New York and a member of the YMCA. In 1904, while in his twenties, Jennings was struck down by Pott's disease, a type of tuberculosis which affects the spine. As a result of his tuberculosis, he stood not much taller than 5 foot and with a noticeable hunch back. In 1922, he commanded the evacuation of 350,000 helpless refugees from the shores of Smyrna (today İzmir) in Turkey following the Great Fire of Smyrna. For his work, Greece awarded Jennings its highest civilian honour, the Order of the Redeemer, and the highest war honour, the medal of Military Merit.
Mark Lambert Bristol (April 17, 1868 – May 13, 1939) was a rear admiral in the United States Navy.
He was born on April 17, 1868, in Glassboro, New Jersey. Bristol graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1887. During the Spanish–American War, he served aboard the battleship USS Texas and participated in the Battle of Santiago de Cuba. From 1901 to 1903, he served as aide to the Commander-in-Chief North Atlantic Fleet. He commanded the battleship USS Oklahoma during World War I.
He served as the US High Commissioner in Turkey (1919–1927).
An excerpt from "Admiral Mark Bristol and the Greek Genocide" Greek Genocide Resource Center:
Admiral Mark Lambert Bristol (1868-1939) was named Commander of an American naval fleet that was sent to Turkey in January 1919. He was also appointed America's High Commissioner thus making him the US's most influential representative to Turkey both militarily and diplomatically during the Kemalist phase of the Greek Genocide. Bristol considered America's business interests more important than the atrocities the Kemalists were committing at the time. His war diaries are filled with conversations he had with businessmen of all kinds including people from the Standard Oil Company, shipping agents, merchants and others seeking business opportunities in Turkey. He concluded early on that the Nationalists provided the best opportunity for commerce between America and Turkey to prosper.
Bristol had the final say on where American journalists were allowed to travel within Anatolia and therefore censored reports before they were even written. He chose to ignore reports of Greek women and children being deported to the interior and sent home the Commanders of destroyers if they expressed derogatory opinions of the Turks. He chose two journalists to report for him on events in Turkey and gave them strict instructions not to report freely, but instead to protect American interests.
An excerpt from, "Smyrna 1922: The Destruction of a Christian City in Turkey" By Theodoros Karakostas:
Bristol was decisive in influencing the manner in which the events at Smyrna were covered, and in large part he is an important forerunner in America to the numerous pro-Turkish officials who ensure that American policy protects Turkey's falsified image and brutal policies at all cost. One year ago, the Bush administration blocked recognition of the Armenian Genocide in the House of Representatives. What shame can be attributed to today's pro-Turkish officials when Bristol did not just actively repress the commemoration of historical events, but who actively aided and abetted the Kemalists in their goal of exterminating Greek and Armenian Christians in Smyrna, and helping to cover up the evidence. Before Henry Kissinger and Cyprus, there was Admiral Mark Bristol and Smyrna.
Milton informs us that Admiral Bristol was so anti-Greek, that the New York Times published an editorial demanding his removal from his post and expressing dismay that American interests were being represented by such a person. Bristol horrified and appalled the members of the American community and other officials such as George Horton. The American community was sympathetic to the Greeks and the Armenians but they were drowned out by Admiral Bristol who had the last say in the formulation of policy, and in how the events of Smyrna were reported to the press.
In addition, Milton gives readers a great deal of insight into the views of Mustafa Kemal. As early as 1905, when he first visited Smyrna, Kemal desired the elimination of the Christian populations. When in the aftermath of the massacres at Smyrna, and the subsequent burning of the City, General Ismet Inonu expressed regret over the burning of Turkish territory (but not for the fate of the Greeks and Armenians). Mustafa Kemal expressed his joy over the events and assured Inonu that the City could easily be rebuilt. Milton's account of Mustafa Kemal make very clear his responsibility for the horrors that ensued, for it was Kemal himself who sent General Noureddin Pasha, a man known for his extremism, to Smyrna in the aftermath of the Greek evacuation.
