Background
Gregorian, Vartan was born on April 8, 1934 in Tabriz, Iran. Son of Samuel B. and Shushanik G. (Mirzaian) Gregorian. came to the United States, 1956.
(In this humorous, learned, and moving memoir, Vartan Greg...)
In this humorous, learned, and moving memoir, Vartan Gregorian recounts his journey from an impoverished childhood as a Christian Armenian in Muslim Tabriz to cultured citizen of the world. Gregorian's odyssey begins in an obscure poor quarter of a provincial city (thought by some to be the location of the Garden of Eden). Childhood centered on his brilliant, beloved, illiterate grandmother who taught him so much, the beauty of Church, school, American movies, and the larger world he read about in his borrowed books. From there, he continued on to a Beirut lycée, Stanford University, and the presidencies of the New York Public Library, Brown University, and Carnegie Corporation. Like Jimmy Carter in An Hour Before Daylight, and in the tradition of Nabokov, Jill Ker Conway, and V. S. Naipaul, he tells us that education is an openness to everything, and describes his public and private life as one education after another. This is a love story about life.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0743255658/?tag=2022091-20
( After World War II, leading western powers focused thei...)
After World War II, leading western powers focused their attention on fighting the "Red Menace," Communism. Today, as terrorist activity is increasingly linked to militant Islamism, some politicians and scholars fear a "Green Menace," a Pan-Islamic totalitarian movement fueled by monolithic religious ideology. Such fears have no foundation in history, according to Vartan Gregorian. In this succinct, powerful survey of Islam, Gregorian focuses on Muslim diversity and division, portraying the faith and its people as a mosaic, not a monolith. The book begins with an accessible overview of Islam's tenets, institutions, evolution, and historical role. Gregorian traces its origins and fundamental principles, from Muhammad's call to faith nearly 1,400 years ago to the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, and the subsequent abolition of the Caliphate. He focuses particular attention on the intense struggle between modernists and traditionalists, interaction between religion and nationalism, and key developments that have caused bitter divisions among Muslim nations and states: the partitions of Palestine, the break up and Islamization of Pakistan, the 1978 revolution in Iran, and the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Today Islamist views range across the entire spectra of religious and political thought, and Islamism is anything but a unified movement. While religious extremists have attempted to form a confederacy of like-minded radicals in many countries, much of the Muslim population lives in relatively modern, secular states. Gregorian urges Westerners to distinguish between activist Islamist parties, which promote —sometimes violently —Islam as an ideology in a theocratic state, and Islamic parties, whose traditional members want their secular political systems to co-exist with the moral principles of their religion. Gregorian emphasizes the importance of religion in today's world and urges states,societies, and intellectuals to intervene in order to prevent Islam--as well as other religions--from becoming the political tool of various parties and states. He recommends continuing dialogues between modernist and traditionalist Muslims, as well as among the educated, secular elite and their clerical counterparts. He also urges U.S.-led efforts to engage and better understand the diversity of Muslim communities in the United States and the world. Lamenting widespread U.S. ignorance of the world's fastest-growing religion, Gregorian calls on "enlightened citizens" to promote international understanding, tolerance, and peace.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/081573283X/?tag=2022091-20
( Long heralded as a seminal work on the history of Afgha...)
Long heralded as a seminal work on the history of Afghanistan, this book traces the evolution of the modern Afghan state by studying the politics of reform and modernization that started in 1880 through World War II. In this reissue, Vartan Gregorian offers a new introduction that places the key themes of the book in the context of contemporary events, addressing questions of tribalism, nationalism, Islam, and modernization, as well as the legacies of the Cold War and the various exit strategies of occupying powers. The book remains as distinctive today as when it was first published. It is the only broad work on Afghan history that considers ethnicity as the defining influence over the course of the country's history, rather than religion. In light of today's ongoing struggle to develop a coherent national identity, the question of Afghan nationalism remains a particularly significant issue.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0804783004/?tag=2022091-20
Gregorian, Vartan was born on April 8, 1934 in Tabriz, Iran. Son of Samuel B. and Shushanik G. (Mirzaian) Gregorian. came to the United States, 1956.
Bachelor, Stanford University, California, 1958. Doctor of Philosophy in History & Humanities, Stanford University, California, 1964. Degree (honorary), Boston University, 1983.
Degree (honorary), Brown University, 1984. Degree (honorary), Jewish Theological Seminary, 1984. Degree (honorary), State University of New York, 1985.
Degree (honorary), Johns Hopkins University, 1987. Degree (honorary), New York University, 1987. Degree (honorary), University Pennsylvania, 1988.
Degree (honorary), Dartmouth College, 1989. Degree (honorary), Rutgers University, 1989. Degree (honorary), City University of New York, 1990.
Degree (honorary), Tufts University, 1994. Degree (honorary), Johnson & Wales University, 1999. Degree (honorary), Julliard School, 2000.
Degree (honorary), University Illinois, 2001. Degree (honorary), Fordham University, 2003. Degree (honorary), Pennsylvania State University, 2003.
Degree (honorary), San Francisco State University, 2004. Degree (honorary), American University Beirut, 2004. Degree (honorary), University Notre Dame, 2005.
From instructor to associate professor of history, San Francisco State College, 1962-1968; associate professor, University of California at Los Angeles, 1968; from associate professor to professor, University Texas, 1968-1972; director special programs, University Texas, 1970-1972; Tarzian professor Armenian and Caucasian history, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1972-1980; dean, University of Pennsylvania (Faculty Arts and Sciences), 1974-1978; provost, University of Pennsylvania (Faculty Arts and Sciences), 1978-1980; president, New York Public Library., 1981-1989; professor, New School Social Research, New York City, 1984-1989; professor History and Near Eastern studies, New York University, 1984-1989; president, professor History, Brown U., Providence, 1989-1997; president, Carnegie Corporation, New York City, since 1997.
( Long heralded as a seminal work on the history of Afgha...)
(In this humorous, learned, and moving memoir, Vartan Greg...)
( After World War II, leading western powers focused thei...)
(Book by Gregorian, Vartan)
Board of directors Aaron Diamond Foundation, 1990-1997, Brookings Institutions, since 1994, Institute for International Education, since 1989, International League of Human Rights, 1984-1997, Institute for Advanced Study, since 1987, Jean Paul Getty Trust, since 1988. Chairman of the Board visitors Graduate school and University Center, CUNY, 1984-1990. Board of trustees Museum Modern Art, since 1994.
Fellow Academy Arts Sciences, American Philosophical Society. Member American Antiquarian Society, American History Association (program chairman 1972), American Philosophical Society (grantee 1965, 66), International Federation Library. Assns. (co-chairman program committee 1985), Association Advancement Slavic Studies (program chairman Western Slavic Conference 1967), Mid-East Studies Association, Council Foreign Rels., Grolier Club, Round Table, Century Club, Economics Club, Phi Beta Kappa.
M C.
Married Clare Russell Gregorian, March 25, 1960. Children: Vahe, Raffi, Dareh.