Massis Post – John M. Evans, former United States Ambassador to Armenia, will be the guest of the Armenian Studies Program for a special evening talk on his new book “Truth Held Hostage: America and the Armenian Genocide—What Then? What Now?” at 7:30PM on Monday, April 25, in the Leon and Pete Peters Educational Center Auditorium (in the Student Recreation Center, next to the SaveMart Center), on the Fresno State campus.

Ambassador Evans, who recognized the Armenian Genocide while U.S. Ambassador, was dismissed from his post by the State Department. In his talk, an unrepentant Evans will discuss his new memoir, which gives a blow-by-blow account of his understanding of the Armenian issue, why he criticized United States policy in 2006, and why he still thinks the State Department should change its position on the Armenian Genocide. Truth Held Hostage promises to reframe the Armenian Genocide debate in the United States and has already been praised as the most important work about the Armenian Genocide by a U.S. diplomat since Henry Morgenthau’s groundbreaking Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story in 1918, a compelling, page-turning read, and an even-handed account of a matter of international importance.

Evans first broke with the State Department on the Armenian Genocide issue in Fresno, and it is fitting that he will be back to update us on developments—and his thoughts about the future.