The great fire : One American's Mission to Rescue Victims of the 20th century's first Genocide / Lou Ureneck.

For Irene

With hard and supercover.

Includes bibliography and index: p. 451-488

Contents: End of an empire -- An innocent arrives -- The Great Offensive -- George Horton, poet-consul -- Garabed Hatcherian -- Admiral Bristol, American potentate -- Washington responds -- Jennings's suggestion -- Theodora -- An American destroyer arrives -- The view from Nif -- Back in Constantinople -- Captain Hepburn's dilemma -- Garabed Hatcherian -- Noureddin Pasha -- fire breaks out -- "All boats over" -- Morning after -- Garabed Hatcherian -- Oil, war, and the protection of minorities -- Bristol's resistance -- Halsey Powell -- Theodora -- Days of despair -- "We are celebrating Smyrna" -- Jennings and the Hand of God -- Garabed Hatcherian -- Washington feels pressure -- Jennings negotiates with a Prime Minister -- The evacuation begins -- The Rhodes letter resurfaces -- Revolution -- British assistance -- After Smyrna.

Summary: Relates the true story of Asa Jennings, a YMCA minister from upstate New York who arrived in Smyrna (now Izmir) in 1922 to teach sports to boys, but instead found himself working tirelessly to help rescue more than 250,000 refugees during the genocide of Armenian and Greek Christians