Hovannisian Speaks on New Textbook  

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Matthew Maroot

Staff Writer
 

            Armenians from throughout the Valley gathered on Friday, November 7, 1997 to attend the second presentation in the Armenian Studies Program Fall Lecture Series.  Co-sponsored by the Armenian Students Organization,  this lecture was given by Dr. Richard G. Hovannisian, professor of Armenian and Near Eastern History and the holder of the Armenian Educational Foundation Chair in Modern Armenian History at UCLA. A standing room only crowd filled the Alice Peters Auditorium to celebrate the publication of Dr. Hovannisianís newest work entitled, The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times.

            Dr. Richard G. Hovannisian first began his career at UCLA in 1962.  Dr. Hovannisian became the first holder of the Armenian Educational Foundation Chair in Modern Armenian History at UCLA in 1987.  In 1990 he became the first social scientist living abroad to be elected to the Armenian Academy of Sciences and in 1994 he became the recipient of an honorary doctorate degree from Yerevan State University.  As one of the founders and three-time President of the Society for Armenian Studies, Dr. Hovannisian is considered one of the world's foremost experts on Armenian History.  Hovannisian has edited and authored several other works including a landmark four volume work on the first Armenian Republic of 1918-1920.

            Dr. Hovannisian's most recent work was published just this year by St. Martinís Press.  The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times, a two volume work, represents an enormous step in the advancement of Armenian History and Armenian Studies.  Because no single person is an expert in all areas of Armenian History, Dr. Hovannisian called on the work of seventeen of the worldís most prominent authors and historians, including our own Dr. Dickran Kouymjian who wrote the first chapter to the second volume of the work.  Other contributors include Robert Thomson, Gulbenkian Chair of Oxford University, Robert Hewsen, Rowan State University of New Jersey, and Nina Garsoian, Avedissian Chair (Emerita), Columbia University.

            Dr. Hovannisian edited the entire work and had the difficult task of consolidating the styles of seventeen different authors who each brought a different approach to the writing of this book.  He also found time to write three chapters to this long-awaited text that helps bring Armenian History into the forefront of historiography.  Dr. Hovannisianís chapters include a discussion on the Armenian Question in the Turkish Empire and two chapters on the formation of the First (1918-1920) and Second (1991-) Armenian Republics.

            This two volume work chronicles the history of the Armenian people beginning with the period of antiquity to the 14th century in Volume I with Volume II covering the 15th century to the 20th century.  The work includes chapters on some of the more popular issues in Armenian History including two chapters on the Armenian-American immigrant experience as well as a discussion on the dispersion of the Diaspora and the resulting Armenian communities around the world.  Topics such as these are greatly recognizable to those of us living in the Diaspora here in the United States.

            Since the first college level course in Armenian Studies was taught at Harvard University in 1959, a great need has been felt for an authoritative Armenian History textbook written in English.  George Bournoutian's 1993 two volume, A History of the Armenian People was a valuable first step in fulfilling this need, however, a need still existed for a college text in Armenian History.  But after two decades of hard work and diligence Dr. Richard G. Hovannisian has brought us a groundbreaking work on the topic of Armenian History.  Those in attendance had the opportunity to purchase these two volumes at the special price of $40 per volume and have them signed by the editor.  This excellent work serves as an essential part of any library of Armenian interest.  Thanks to the dedicated efforts of Dr. Richard G. Hovannisian, this major advance in Armenian History and Armenian Studies allows us to have the range of 2,500 years of Armenian History compacted into two definitive volumes.