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This sounds fascinating; so glad it's been republished. Pietro Shakarian, who wrote the introduction, runs a blog with articles mostly having to do with Armenian and Soviet/post-Soviet cinema. Below is part of his blog post on the titular text.
On the shelves now is the new republication of the 1932 book The Red Flag at Ararat. Printed by the London-based Gomidas Institute as part of its Sterndale Classics series, it features a new introduction, written by me, that contextualizes the work for students, scholars, and contemporary readers. It also includes all the illustrations from the original work as well as a new glossary of place names.
The Red Flag at Ararat is the account of a young Armenian-American woman's experiences traveling from her home in New York City to Soviet Armenia in the early 1930s. The work was the first English-language account ever written exclusively about the Soviet Armenian republic. Notably, the original cover art, preserved in the new republication, was illustrated by the architect Zareh M. Sourian who designed St. Vartan Armenian Cathedral in Manhattan.
The author, Aghavnie "Ave" Yeghenian (1895-1963), was a highly distinguished member of the Armenian-American community. A committed New Deal Democrat, a practicing Armenian Christian, and a social activist, she was a graduate of Yale Law School (in 1937!) and a founding member of the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) in Belmont, Massachusetts. A specialist in immigration issues, she also served the YWCA, the AGBU, the New York City government, the Federal government, and the American Red Cross.
Her account is an eye-opening text, a portrait of Soviet life in the early 1930s filled with plenty of fascinating observations and insights. Outside of Soviet Armenia, she also visits Leningrad, Moscow, Baku, and Tbilisi, the latter of which she enjoys the most. She also recounts discussions with several locals as well as Soviet Armenian officials, including the head of the Armenian GPU (predecessor to the KGB)! A fluent speaker of Armenian, she had little communication difficulty. Significantly, many of the officials with whom she meets (including Sahak Ter-Gabrielyan and Aghasi Khanjian) would later become victims of Stalin's Purges later in the 1930s.
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On the shelves now is the new republication of the 1932 book The Red Flag at Ararat. Printed by the London-based Gomidas Institute as part of its Sterndale Classics series, it features a new introduction, written by me, that contextualizes the work for students, scholars, and contemporary readers. It also includes all the illustrations from the original work as well as a new glossary of place names.
The Red Flag at Ararat is the account of a young Armenian-American woman's experiences traveling from her home in New York City to Soviet Armenia in the early 1930s. The work was the first English-language account ever written exclusively about the Soviet Armenian republic. Notably, the original cover art, preserved in the new republication, was illustrated by the architect Zareh M. Sourian who designed St. Vartan Armenian Cathedral in Manhattan.
The author, Aghavnie "Ave" Yeghenian (1895-1963), was a highly distinguished member of the Armenian-American community. A committed New Deal Democrat, a practicing Armenian Christian, and a social activist, she was a graduate of Yale Law School (in 1937!) and a founding member of the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) in Belmont, Massachusetts. A specialist in immigration issues, she also served the YWCA, the AGBU, the New York City government, the Federal government, and the American Red Cross.
Her account is an eye-opening text, a portrait of Soviet life in the early 1930s filled with plenty of fascinating observations and insights. Outside of Soviet Armenia, she also visits Leningrad, Moscow, Baku, and Tbilisi, the latter of which she enjoys the most. She also recounts discussions with several locals as well as Soviet Armenian officials, including the head of the Armenian GPU (predecessor to the KGB)! A fluent speaker of Armenian, she had little communication difficulty. Significantly, many of the officials with whom she meets (including Sahak Ter-Gabrielyan and Aghasi Khanjian) would later become victims of Stalin's Purges later in the 1930s.
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