The Blight of Asia

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The Blight of Asia is a book, written in 1926 by George Horton, that provides an eyewitness account of the events leading up to the Great Fire of Smyrna, that ravaged the city of Smyrna (then and now called İzmir) as of 13 September 1922, He then served as U.S. Consul in Smyrna up to the U.S.'s break-off of diplomatic relations with the Ottoman Empire (1911-1917) in World War I. He served again as consul in Smyrna after the war (1919-1922) and remained in Smyrna until after the fire began on September 13, 1922, spending the last hours before his evacuation signing passes for those entitled to American protection and transportation to Piraeus.

The full title of the book is: The Blight of Asia, An Account of the Systematic Extermination of Christian Populations by Mohammedans and of the Culpability of Certain Great Powers; with the True Story of the Burning of Smyrna.

The title is a reference to Edwin Arnold's 1879 book about the Buddha the Light of Asia.^{[citation needed]}