On page 89, Balakian writes "Like many Armenians, my grandparents' had been converted to Protestantism from their own Armenian Orthodox Christianity by the American missionaries who went to Turkey in the nineteenth century with hopes of converting the Turks from Islam. By the time the Aroosians and the Shekerlemedjians had come to the United States, they were already on the road to being American by virtue of their Protestantism- a Protestantism that had, as well, nearly two thousand years of Armenian Christianity behind it."
As the lifestyle of Balakian's family suggests, such as the long ritualistic Armenian dinners, the traditions of Protestantism are blended into a background of Armenian Christianity in the foreign lands of America.
Also of particular interest is the impact that a role-model country like the U.S can have on the people of another country like Armenia.
