In 1993, two years after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the new Republc of Armenia was involved in a war to save the Armenian enclave of Nagorno Karabakh. It was a time of shortages and deprivation. Under these trying conditions a center was created in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, whose goal was to provide reconstructive surgical care to the victims of a devastating earthquake that had ravaged the country several years earlier. "Yerevan Journal" is the day-by-day diary of an American surgeon who volunteered to work in Armenia during that difficult time.

Thomas Jordan's diary is a day-by-day account of farm life in rural Maine during the 1840s. The writer, an intelligent and industrious farmer, provides us with an unparalled look at the past as our country was entering a new age. Extensive annotation by one of the diarist's descendents serves to bridge the time gap between then and now.