De Bellaigue 's 2009 book '' Rebel Land : Unraveling the Riddle of History in a Turkish Town '' is based largely on research he conducted in Varto , a small town in southeastern Turkey . The book begins with a story of de Bellaigue 's essay published in the '' New York Review of Books '' , whose allusion to the Armenian Genocide prompted a letter from the Harvard Professor James R. Russell accusing de Bellaigue of promoting denialist views , as well as criticism from the magazine 's editor Robert Silvers . Dismayed to realize that he had gotten his information on these events only from Turkish and pro-Turkish writers , de Bellaigue set out to find out the truth through his own research . In his book de Bellaigue criticizes the Turkish historians who , he argues , have whitewashed the history surrounding the Armenian Genocide , and also " worries that ' a genocide fixation ' has blinded both sides to all shades of gray "
Armenian Genocide
Armenian Genocide
Christopher de Bellaigue