Part of a generation that was admonished in its youth to "remember the starving Armenians," Peterson traveled to Armenia in 1997 as a Peace Corps volunteer and was moved by the country’s troubled history. After research, he edited a collection of essays published by the University of Virginia Press under the title "Starving Armenians": America and the Armenian Genocide 1915-1930 and After (2004), which explores the American response to the violence against and dispersion of the Armenian people during and after World War I, when more than 1.5 million of the country's minority population died.
Peterson, a member of a generation taught to "remember the starving Armenians," traveled to Armenia in 1997 as a Peace Corps volunteer and was deeply affected by the country's history. After researching extensively, he edited an essay collection published by the University of Virginia Press under the title "Starving Armenians": America and the Armenian Genocide 1915-1930 and After (2004), which explores America's reaction to the violence against and dispersal of the Armenian population during and following World War I, when approximately 1.5 million people from the country died.