On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Catastrophe of Smyrna, when the flourishing metropolis, today's Izmir, was completely destroyed and tens of thousands of people lost their lives, as well as the 200 years since the Massacre of Chios, the distinguished author and journalist Lutz C. Kleveman embarks on a year-long journey to the Greek islands and Smyrna, which turns into a journey through time.

We are transported to Chios in the late 18th century and witness the events that led to the enslavement of its population, as well as the refugee wave towards the other islands of the Aegean.

Next, we cross over to the shores of Asia Minor and cosmopolitan Smyrna, when Greeks, Turks, Jews, Armenians, Europeans, and Americans peacefully coexisted there, and we witness the developments that ultimately led to the Catastrophe of 1922.

This dramatic event was followed by the population exchange, during which nearly two million Christians and Muslims were forced to abandon their homes; this exchange served as a model for all ethnic cleansings of the 20th century.

Based on the testimonies of the people he encounters and his on-site research, the author seeks the thread of History that connects the past with the present, as well as the population movements in the Aegean, which seem to have no end...