Over the summer I read Black Dog of Fate by Peter Balakian and Baghdad Without A Map and Other Misadventures in Arabia by Tony Horwitz. These stories are different from each other content-wise, however both show how the authors met their legacy. For both Balakian and Horwitz, getting used to their culture has been a growing process. At the beginning of their stories they saw things from the American point of view, not knowing beyond what the newspapers and media had said. By the conclusion of these stories, the authors have come to know and fully understand what was truly behind closed doors in America. In Black Dog of Fate, Balakian illustrates how his Armenian background influenced him being born and raised in the first generation of his family. grew up in America. At the beginning of his memoirs, young Balakian had no interest in the “old country.” As a child living in a densely populated Jewish community, he was envious of his friends who walked down the street with their parents to go to synagogue. Through this feeling of jealousy, he felt as if his Armenian ancestry prevented him from being like his peers. Because Peter's grandmother and parents had not given him any information about his family's background at the time, he did not learn of the similar history that Jews and Armenians once shared. As a teenager, Armenia's past put a strain on Peter's relationship with his father after he wrote an article about Türkiye. “. . . the Turkish essay marked a turning point; in its wake, my father became even more of a stranger to me” (Balakian 95). When Balakian got older, his father sent him a letter. “We have an extraordinary ancient historical background with struggle against all odds, courage against deception… middle of paper… 5). Both Peter Balakian and Tony Horwitz put their own cultural spin on their stories. Those stories showed how authors became dynamic characters about their legacies. Balakian's Black Dog of Fate told readers how Peter started as a boy without knowing the dark past of his ancestors to becoming an adult who wanted people to know about the Armenian Genocide. Horwitz's Baghdad Without A Map and Other Misadventures in Arabia gave readers a tour of the Middle East based on his experiences. The books provided in-depth details beyond what is known in America. After reading, readers can easily understand that the authors of the two books have approached their specific heritage and learned more about it .