In the book, Lewy argues that the high death toll among Ottoman Armenians was a byproduct of the conditions of the marches and on sporadic attacks rather than a planned attempt to exterminate them.
According to Professor Tessa Hofmann of Berlin's Free University, Lewy had conceived of the idea of writing on the Armenian genocide as early as 2000: In the summer of 2000 a retiree, resting on my couch, expressed a strange intention.
The author stated that the high death toll was simply a byproduct of the conditions of the marches and on sporadic attacks rather than a planned attempt to kill the Armenians.
[7] Lewy's book criticizes the work of many scholars of the Armenian Genocide, including Donald Bloxham, Richard Hovannisian, Taner Akçam, Erik Jan Zürcher, Ronald Suny, Robert Melson, Leo Kuper, and David Lang, but especially Vahakn Dadrian.
"[5] Joseph A. Kéchichian also criticized the book for denying the genocide and resorting to "pronounced selectivity of data, deflection, distortion, and occasional falsification" to support this thesis.
[18] In the book, Lewy states that "the Armenians can hardly claim that they suffered for no reason at all... large numbers of them had fought the Turks openly or played the role of a fifth column; not surprisingly, with their backs against the wall, the Ottomans reacted resolutely, if not viciously".
A. Dirk Moses responds to this "telling slip", stating that Lewy falls into the trap of attributing collective guilt from Armenian combatants to the defenceless women and children from other parts of the country who were deported.