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DELAWARE, Ohio – Historian Ronald Grigor Suny, Ph.D., will discuss the World War I-era Armenian Genocide when he speaks next month at Ohio Wesleyan University.
Suny, the William H. Sewell Jr. Distinguished University Professor of History at the University of Michigan, will speak at 7 p.m. Feb. 12 in Room 312 of the R.W. Corns Building, 78 S. Sandusky St., Delaware. His presentation represents Ohio Wesleyan’s biennial Robert Kragalott Lecture on Genocide, Mass Atrocity, and Human Rights.
Suny’s books include “ ‘They Live in the Desert But Nowhere Else’: A History of the Armenian Genocide,” released in paperback in May.
Describing Suny’s book, reviewer Norman Naimark states: “I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that there is no one else in the world who is better able than Ronald Suny to provide a one-volume history of the Armenian Genocide. This is the best book we have on the subject. The narrative is fluid, the writing is crystal clear and engaging, and the scholarship is impeccable. Scrupulously fair-minded, Suny deepens our understanding of the causes of the genocide without, however, rationalizing it.”
In the book, Suny draws on archival documents and eyewitness accounts, creating what his publishers deem “an unforgettable chronicle of a cataclysm that set a tragic pattern for a century of genocide and crimes against humanity.”
At the University of Michigan, Suny’s fields of study include Russian, Armenian, Caucasian history, nationalism, empire, ethnic conflict, and genocide. He also is the Emeritus Professor of Political Science and History at the University of Chicago and Senior Researcher at the National Research University – Higher School of Economics in Saint Petersburg, Russia. He was the first holder of the Alex Manoogian Chair in Modern American History at the University of Michigan, where he founded and directed the Armenian Studies Program.
Suny currently is working on a co-authored history of Russia titled “Russia’s Empires,” a two-volume biography of Stalin, and a series of historiographical essays on Soviet history.
He has served as a chairman of the Society for Armenian Studies and on the editorial boards of Slavic Review, International Labor and Working-Class History, International Journal of Middle East Studies, and The Armenian Review among others. He has appeared on the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, CBS Evening News, CNN, Voice of America, and National Public Radio, and has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, and other newspapers and journals.
Ohio Wesleyan’s Kragalott Lecture honors the career, contributions, and memory of Robert Kragalott, Ph.D., a professor in the OWU Department of History from 1964 to 1991. In years when lectures are not held, the endowment supports a student research project supervised by a faculty member. Learn more at www.owu.edu/history.
Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier liberal arts universities. Located in Delaware, Ohio, the private university offers more than 90 undergraduate majors and competes in 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. Through Ohio Wesleyan’s signature OWU Connection program, students integrate knowledge across disciplines, build a diverse and global perspective, and apply their knowledge in real-world settings. Ohio Wesleyan is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives” and included in the U.S. News & World Report and Princeton Review “best colleges” lists. Learn more at www.owu.edu.