As the ruthless Ottoman and Russian empires clashed under the false banner of religion, the unsuspecting Armenian and Assyrian peasants of Albak were caught in a holocaust of burning, looting and massacre. Engulfed in the inescapable impact of these events, Raffi set aside everything else to write his first historical novel, "Jalaleddin". With sparing but vivid strokes he fashioned a stark, compact drama of epic proportions, forging a story that at once crystallized the emotions of the Armenian public, showed them the path to freedom, and set their fate squarely before them. But with its call to self-defense and its frontal assault on the clerical establishments of two major religions, "Jalaleddin" was not appreciated by everyone. Immediately upon publication it set off a firestorm of controversy and was bitterly attacked for its ideas in the conservative Armenian press.