How Did I Survive?

How Did I Survive? is a book of memoirs of Professor Artavazd M. Minasyan. It is a tale of one man's life and his survival despite all odds. It is a story that inspires life and hope. It is a story in which good ultimately prevails over evil. It is also a tale of a country that has lived through decades of controversies, destruction and injustice.

The author unveils intricate details of his time, describing his fight for survival and what inspired and gave him strength to go on. Professor A. M. Minasyan was an optimist in his tireless and principled struggle for justice in life and in science. Indeed, the book is a story of his iron will and immense belief in, love for and appreciation of the gift of life, whether in the days of hungry childhood, or enduring through Stalin's purges, or facing the enemy one-on-one during World War II, or struggling in peacetime for the right to voice alternative views in science.

Covering the period of approximately eighty years from the early 1910s to the early 1990s the narrative coincides with the author's life-journey, touching upon every significant event of the time and the author's personal involvement in each case. These situations are not told in simple chronological enumeration, but are enriched with complex nuances. They are analyzed through the prism of time and the author's adherence to dialectical critique. Hence one man's life becomes the reflection of the life of the entire country. In this book it happens to be the life of Professor Artavazd M. Minasyan, whose dedication to his family, country, and science was far greater than words could describe.