On December 1st in the early evening, Dr. Siobhan Nash-Marshall welcomed a crowd of a hundred guests, consisting of students, alumni, faculty, family, and friends, for the private launch of her new book The Sins of the Fathers: Turkish Denialism and the Armenian Genocide. The event was held in the Reid Castle at Manhattanville College, where Dr. Nash-Marshall holds the Mary T. Clark Chair of Christian Philosophy. Among friends attending the event were also Reverend Fr. Anoushavan Tanielian, an Armenian Apostolic Bishop, and Dr. Paul Kucharski, Manhattanville Philosophy Department Professor and Ethicist, whom came as guest speakers.
Following remarks of high praise from Reverend Fr. Tanielian and Dr. Kucharski for her new publication, Dr. Nash-Marshall was welcomed to speak of her research and subsequent writing regarding the Armenian Genocide. Dr. Nash-Marshall chose to discuss her motivations for writing the book, mentioning in specific two current problems she intended the book to address. The book first and foremost is concerned with the injustice of the Armenian Genocide and the denialism that continues the intentions of the Genocide at its beginning. Through the grievous intellectual mistakes of the Genocide’s perpetrators, Dr. Nash-Marshall also defines a much deeper problem, which remains prevalent in Western society today—the dismissal of reality’s relation to truth. As a professor, Dr. Nash-Marshall mentioned the prevalence of this mistake in academia: the tendency of today’s teachers to force beliefs without evidence, rather than present facts and assist students in developing conclusions by their individual reasoning. In conclusion, Dr. Nash-Marshall indicated students, faculty, and friends in the audience devoted to truth as her hope for the future.
Afterwards a reception was held where 50 special first edition copies were distributed and inscribed by Dr. Nash-Marshall.