Balakian Buzz Hits Capitol Hill and Armenian Community

From The Top-50 of USA Today, to #7 in the October 13th issue of Publisher’s Weekly, to #4 on the New York Times Best Seller List, Dr. Peter Balakian’s book The Burning Tigris: The Armenian Genocide and America’s Response has created a buzz among the Armenian community.

I had the opportunity to witness this buzz first hand by attending Balakian’s lecture at Fresno State on Sunday, November 2nd. Students politely gave up their seats to individuals from the community and sat on the floor, because there were only 250 available seats at the Wahlberg Hall and there were many more people in the audience. Similar numbers of people were present at almost all of Balakian’s lectures across the United States.
But what is it about Peter Balakian’s book that has created such a buzz?

Dr. Dickran Kouymjian, Director of Armenian Studies at Fresno State, himself a recognized writer and scholar, had this to say about the book, after reading only the first 30 pages. “The opening parts are stunning. The preface is wonderfully evocative, and Faneuil Hall, Howe, and Blackwell are quite powerfully and beautifully rendered.” He added, “It is wonderful history writing, very literary, right from the book’s opening description of a New England fall evening.”
The buzz did not stop there. It also reached Toronto writer and historian Paul Mitchinson, who in an interview on the Armenian National Committee of America website said, “The [Balakian’s] latest book encourages America to tap into a forgotten well of knowledge about the Genocide and to revive its powerful impulse toward humanitarianism. In doing so, America will not just be serving the cause of history, but the broader aims of a liberal and democratic society.”

Mr. Mitchinson could not have said it any better. But how much longer will the Genocide remain forgotten to the non-Armenian community?

On the way to the airport I had the opportunity to talk one on one with Dr. Balakian and he seemed quite optimistic about the movement that is currently taking place in United States to get the Genocide recognized, especially after last May’s unanimous passage by the House Judiciary Committee of House Resolution 193, marking the 15th anniversary of the United States implementation of the United Nations Genocide Convention. The bill, which cited the Armenian, Cambodian and Rwandan genocides, as well as the Holocaust, was passed despite strong efforts by the Turkish government to exclude “Armenian Genocide” from its wording.

The buzz even had an effect on Capitol Hill. Congressman George Radanovich of California’s 19th District, co-sponsor of House Resolution 193, in an exclusive email question-answer interview with Hye Sharzhoom said this about The Burning Tigris, “I read the Burning Tigris and thought it was so effective in telling the story of the Armenian Genocide that I distributed copies, donated by the Armenian National Committee of America, to every member of the House of Representatives.” When asked what impact the book will have on his efforts to get a Genocide Resolution passed, he replied, “I believe the book raises awareness of the Armenian Genocide, and anything that raises awareness will help the effort to pass the resolution I introduced on the Genocide.”

Representative Radanovich is not the only member of the House of Representatives to feel the Balakian buzz. His colleague and co-sponsor to House Resolution 193, Frank Pallone of New Jersey’s 6th District had this to say, again in an exclusive interview with Hye Sharzhoom. “As we continue to educate our colleagues in Congress about the horrific acts Armenian citizens endured at the hands of the Ottoman Empire, it is important that we have personal stories in the form of books and films to help us combat Turkish efforts in revisionist history.”

Scholars, politicians, and professionals, are all talking about this book, but how long will this Balakian buzz last? Only time will tell, though one thing is certain-whatever Dr. Balakian endeavors next, it is likely to cause another Balakian buzz.

It was said best by a gentleman in the audience at the Fresno lecture, “What is next, can I suggest The Flaming Euphrates?”