Greetings, fellow history geeks!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving week. I spent the first half in Boston for the American Academy of Religion's annual conference. There are few better joys than to hang out with fellow religion geeks. I currently have the privilege to serve as co-chair, with the legendary Jana Riess, of the Mormon Studies Unit, which typically hosts 2-3 panels during the conference. This year we had one panel on marginalized texts and traditions within Mormonism, which included papers on John Taylor's 1880s revelations, a gay Mormon schism during the 1980s, and the prevalence of Mormon authors among science fiction novels; the other panel was on "Old Books in Mormon Studies," and featured brilliant scholars reflecting on key books within the field from forty years ago and how our community has evolved in the meantime.

And then, of course, I returned home just in time to gorge myself with turkey, sweet potatoes, and a dozen different pies.

Let's do a bit of looking ahead and looking behind.

NEWS/NOTES/ANNOUNCEMENTS

• One my highlights for every month is doing a live discussion on my youtube channel. The next discussion will be Wednesday at 7pm CT. Make sure you're subscribed to the channel so you can participate. The theme is "The Year 2025 in Mormon History," and I hope to cover two things: 1) the major historical events, developments, and legacies from 2025 that future historians will highlight, and 2) my favorite works of Mormon scholarship from the past year. And of course, I'll be answering any and all questions that come in. Please mark your calendars and participate!
• I was privileged to deliver Dialogue's Gospel Study presentation a couple weeks ago on the topic of Joseph Smith's Nauvoo revelations. I framed the discussion around the consequences of canonizing trauma, and I placed Smith's teachings on eternity, family, and, yes, polygamy within the context of what the saints had suffered in Missouri and Illinois. You can watch the full presentation at Dialogue's youtube channel, where they also posted the afterchat.
• I was thrilled to have an article appear in the latest issue of Journal of the Civil War Era. It's about the abolitionist minister's Theodore Parker and how his political theology evolved to support violence in the cause of emancipation. This article is a preview of the book I'm currently finishing on the antislavery movement in antebellum Massachusetts. And if you want to hear about the long process behind the article's publication, check out my instagram video on it.
• I also had a book review that appeared in the latest issue of Journal of Southern History. I praise a new book, American Dark Age: Racial Feudalism and the Rise of Black Liberalism, which is a brilliant engagement with Black thinkers during the nineteenth century.
• The next lecture in the Mormon History Association's FREE online series is this Thursday, 12/4, at 7pm MT. The brilliant historian Nathan Oman will be lecturing on "Mormon Constitution Making and the Council of Fifty," a topic near and dear to my heart. Oman has a new book on Mormonism and legal theory coming out soon. You can find information about the lecture at the bottom of this page.

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YOUTUBE VIDEOS

• ​Was Joseph Smith Convicted? The Glass Looker Case (11/14): Many people have heard that Joseph Smith was accused of being a "glass looker" before he translated the Book of Mormon, but few know the details. This video walks through the complicated documentary record, explains why we may never know the results of the case, but posits lasting legacies. I specifically focus on why I think the hearing proved a significant pivot point for Smith's gold plates story.
• ​The Shocking Truth Behind Missouri's Mormon "Extermination Order" (11/17): one of the most common questions I get from people who feel I'm too negative on the Latter-day Saint Church is, "WHY DON'T YOU TALK ABOUT MISSOURI?!?!?!" So this video discusses how and why the Mormons were expelled by Missouri. But I use Lilburn Boggs's notorious extermination order as an example of broader political crises during the era.
• ​How Anti-Mormonism Shaped American Politics (11/19): as long as Mormonism has existed, there has been anti-Mormonism. However, the varieties of anti-Mormonism have shifted and evolved over the past 200 years. In this video I propose four categories in which we can place these various traditions, as well as discuss the most recent iteration: the MAGA anti-Mormonism who see the LDS church as yet another corrupt institution tied up in global conspiracies.
• ​The First LGBTQ+ Mormon Story Ever Published (11/21): okay, it may not be the first LGBTQ+ Mormon story published, but it's the first published by a mainstream LDS periodical. "Solus" appeared in 1976 and narrated one gay man's attempt to find a place within a homophobic community. Yet even if we may not know the author--if you know who it was, please let me know!--much of the essay's content rings familiar.
• ​The Apostle Who "Redefined" Adultery (11/24): from the outside, Albert Carrington seemed one of Mormonism's best and brightest--he was well-educated, eloquent, and good with business. He became an apostle in territorial Utah, was added to the First Presidency in Brigham Young's final years, and presided over the faith's European missions three times. Yet when word trickled out that his time in England featured an extended affair with several women, he challenged the church's moral and sexual standards during a moment of intense scrutiny over polygamy. And make sure to watch just to hear his, um, "stretched" justification for why he didn't consider what he did as adultery!

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SOCIAL MEDIA VIDEOS

• Condemnations of the Week, Part V (11/29): TikTok and Instagram​
• How Pro-LDS Podcasters Fit Within the Longer Tradition of Mormon Apologetics (11/28): TikTok and Instagram​
• How Thanksgiving Has Always Been a Day of Disagreement (11/27): Instagram​
• Highlighting the Time and Effort that Goes into a Peer-Reviewed Academic Article (11/26): TikTok and Instagram​
• No, the Latter-day Saints Were Not Kicked out of Missouri for their Anti-Slavery Views (11/23): TikTok and Instagram​
• When the LDS Hierarchy Spoke Out Against the MX Missile (11/19): TikTok and Instagram​
• How Joseph Smith's Revelation on Polygamy Fits Uncomfortably in the LDS Canon (11/16): TikTok and Instagram​
• Mormon Women for Ethical Government and the History of Progressive LDS Women (11/14): TikTok and Instagram​
• How Settler Colonialism Shapes both the LDS Community and Mormon Studies (11/13): TikTok and Instagram​
• How Historically Accurate is the New Netflix Series "Death By Lightning"? (11/12): TikTok and Instagram​

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ODDS & ENDS

• We're about to get an onslaught of new books on the American Revolution that will coincide with the 250th anniversary next year. But we already have one phenomenal monograph that just came out from a friend of mine: Richard Bell's The American Revolution and the Fate of the World (Riverhead Books). I was lucky enough to read drafts of chapters as he wrote them, and it's a great retelling of the fight for independence within a global context. It's filled with engaging prose and lively characters. If you want a good primer in advance of national festivities, this is your text.
• We are very lucky that Signature Books has published two excellent documentary histories: the diaries of BYU president Ernest Wilkinson and feminist/poet/activist/theologian Carol Lynn Pearson. I'll have more to say on these volumes soon, but I'll just say that these books will be crucial in helping us understand 20th century Mormon history.
• Oh, and if you're like me and love both history and basketball, then Signature Books has another phenomenal book out this week: Matthew Bowman and Wayne Lecheminant's Game Changers, which talks about BYU basketball and what it tells us about American culture. I have a video on the book, including an interview with the authors, coming out this Friday.

Until next time,

Benjamin Park, historian & nerd

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