Through primarily American sources, many of which are unknown, classified, and unpublished until now, the unknown behind-the-scenes events of the tragedy of Smyrna are illuminated, along with the political and economic interests, as well as the cynicism of the great powers of the time.

It is indisputably proven the guilt of the Turkish forces for the massacres and the great fire of Smyrna, while simultaneously the motives of the perpetrators are revealed. The Kemalists wanted to erase the traces of the massacres and eliminate anything that was not Turkish and Muslim from Smyrna, forcing the Christian populations into what has been termed as "The greatest exodus in history."

The Western governments watched almost passively, for weeks, the plight of the Anatolian Greeks. The rescue of hundreds of thousands of refugees is largely due to the private initiative of some Americans, who worked selflessly carrying out "unauthorized acts of humanitarianism," thereby saving the honor of the West.

The documents presented in the book highlight the two different facets of American involvement in the Asia Minor Catastrophe. On one hand, the cynical and relentless economic and political interests, as represented by the American High Commissioner in Constantinople, Mark Bristol, as well as by Allen Dulles, who was head of the Near East section of the State Department and later Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

On the other hand, the bright America of humanity and compassion, of the protagonists and eyewitnesses of the Smyrna Catastrophe: the consul George Horton, the doctor Esther Lavdzo, the missionary Aisa Jennings, and many others.