In the 1910s historian Harry Harootunian's parents Ohannes and Vehanush escaped the mass slaughter of the Armenian genocide, making their way to France, where they first met, before settling in suburban Detroit. Although his parents rarely spoke of their families and the horrors they survived, the genocide and their parents' silence about it was a permanent backdrop to the Harootunian children's upbringing. In The Unspoken as Heritage Harootunian—for the first time in his distinguished career—turns to his personal life and family heritage to explore the genocide's multigenerational afterlives that remain at the heart of the Armenian diaspora. Drawing on novels, anecdotes, and reports, Harootunian presents a composite sketch of the everyday life of his parents, from their childhood in East Anatolia to the difficulty of making new lives in the United States. A meditation on loss, inheritance, and survival—in which Harootunian attempts to come to terms with a history that is just beyond his reach—The Unspoken as Heritage demonstrates how the genocidal past never leaves the present, even in its silence.

"Elegantly written and intriguingly structured. . . For readers interested in the problem of genocide, in the silence of survivors, and in second-generation immigrants, The Unspoken as Heritage offers richly rewarding reflections from the point of view of someone who has confronted unanswered questions that have lingered from his childhood." - Critical Inquiry

"“Harry Harootunian has authored a timely and thought-provoking book on the Armenian Genocide. The Unspoken as Heritage strikes a balance between the facts of the historical events and the author’s own personal journey to comprehend the full and complete tragedy that tore to shards his parents’ lives.”" - Canadian Journal of History

"“Professor Harootunian has managed to produce a book of profound depth and beauty. It is equal parts a personal memoir, a sociological examination of the Armenian Genocide and its often-unexamined psychological effects on survivors and their children, and a meditation of what it is to be a second-generation immigrant in a country ensconced in mythic self-glorification.”
 " - Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies

"“[The Unspoken as Heritage] is very rich and flows smoothly.... Harootunian’s study about his own family (as a singular case) sheds light upon what happened to the Armenians who ran away from the Ottoman Empire in the beginning of the twentieth century (as a collective process).”" - Ethnic and Racial Studies