Greetings fellow history nerds!

These days it feels weeks go by lightning-quick but also glacially slow. At least it does for me, anyway. But as dark and difficult as things have seemed, I've taken heart in the people still pushing forward with their work, calling out injustice, and producing critical scholarship that helps us understand the moment.

I've tried to stay busy--the best way to exert my anxious energy. That means not only continuing my public scholarship videos, but also working on my own long-term projects. I am on the final chapter of my book on Theodore Parker and the religious underpinnings of America's abolitionist movement, and hope to have that off my plate soon. I'll then be able to turn my attention to the next major project: an intellectual and cultural biography of Cleon Skousen It should be fun.

Below you'll find the typical links, videos, and odds and ends, concluding with my thoughts on the phenomenal new book on 1980s America. I'm especially proud of several of the YouTube videos from the past two weeks, so please make sure to check out those you may have missed.

NEWS/NOTES/ANNOUNCEMENTS

• This Wednesday, 2/18, at 2pm MT I'll be holding a LIVE discussion with Ultra A-List TikTok Celebrity Eli McCann. We'll be celebrating the release of his new collection of essays, We Are Thankful for the Moisture: A Gay Guy's Guide to Mormon Faith, Family, and Fruit Preservation (Signature Books). Those who follow Eli on social media know he's one of the funniest characters the Mormon tradition has ever produced; those who are privileged to know him personally are also aware that he's just a considerate and caring dude. I'm excited to talk to him about his new book. Please mark your calendars to join us, and make sure to bring your questions--large and small--that you want him to answer.
• The next lecture in the Mormon History Association Lecture Series is this Thursday, 2/19, at 7pm MT. Sheralyn Howcroft, a wonderful historian at the LDS Church History Library, will be speaking on "Revisiting The History of Lucy Smith Mother of the Prophet as a Prototypical Victorian Woman’s History." You can find the FREE online registration link at the bottom of this page.
• If you missed my Live Discussion two weeks ago on Mormon Polygamy, it was a lot of fun. Even though the comments were filled with those who deny the scholarly consensus that Joseph Smith practiced and taught plural marriage, I think we covered a lot of ground. I spent the first twenty minutes providing a historical overview of a dozen-or-so documents that I feel are crucial for understanding Mormon polygamy. You can watch the full recording here.
• Registration is now open for the Mormon History Association's annual conference, which will take place in early June. We have a phenomenal list of speakers and sessions. As the current president of the association, I'll be delivering the presidential address, titled "The Five Thousand Years of Cleon Skousen. If you are interested in Mormon history, regardless of your background and credentials, I recommend attending. You'll be surrounded by 5-600 other history nerds and have a lot of fun. More information and registration at this link.

YOUTUBE VIDEOS

I usually feel good about my youtube videos, especially those I put a lot of time into. But this last batch, I believe, are especially important. I'm grateful for the several scholars who joined me to dissect crucial and relevant topics.

• ​The New LDS Apostle Clark Gilbert (2/16): the LDS church has its newest apostle: Clark Gilbert, most recently the Commissioner of Church Education. Elder Gilbert arrives in the Quorum of the Twelve with a bit of a reputation. I try to provide a fair overview of his background as well as the key themes that come through in his administration and public remarks. In general, I see his approach as reflecting a general retrenchment within the church.
• ​Inside the September Six Excommunications (2/13): Two weeks ago, I received an email that blew me away: a 1993 letter that helps make sense of the 1993 disciplinary councils held for prominent LDS intellectuals. This video provides a general background to the "September Six," introduces the new document, and then analyzes the sources with distinguished scholars Sara Patterson and Barbara Jones Brown. I was also privileged to be joined by the legendary Maxine Hanks, who shared very personal and poignant reflections on the episode.
• ​When Mormons were "Illegal" in America (2/11): How can history help us make sense of the current moment? And how should our contemporary world help frame our questions of the past? Like many in the United States, I've been troubled by many of the recent episodes of ICE violence. So I had on two scholars, Brittany Romanello and Paul Reeve, to examine how the past is a prologue to the present.
• ​Joseph Smith's King Follett Discourse (2/9): Just two months before his death, Smith delivered his most famous and controversial sermon. It declared that God was once a human like us, and that humans may one day be like God. This video both dissects the sermon as well as places it within context. I also survey how the sermon has been interpreted and re-interpreted in the ensuing 150 years.
• ​The Story Behind Brigham Young's Blood Atonement Theology (2/6): What did Brigham Young mean when he declared that there were some sins that could not be covered by the blood of Christ, and necessitating the shedding of one's own blood? This teaching has been highlighted, denied, and exaggerated in popular and ecclesiastical contexts. This video aims to explain the actual history and what Brigham Young actually taught, as well as the doctrine's demise.
• ​Why Polygamy Still Shapes Modern Mormon Doctrine (2/2): The third and final video in my three-part series on D&C 132, I provide an overview on how Joseph Smith's revelation on polygamy has been interpreted in the century after the church publicly renounced plural marriage.

SOCIAL MEDIA VIDEOS

• The Mormon Attempt to Reinterpret D&C 132 After 1890: TikTok/Insta​
• David O McKay's Reinterpretation of Mormon Polygamy and D&C 132: TikTok/Insta​
• Condemnations of the Week, Part VII: TikTok/Insta​
• The Significance of Clark Gilbert's Apostolic Appointment: TikTok/Insta​
• Dissecting a New Document Related to the Mormon September Six: TikTok/Insta​

ODDS & ENDS

• I just finished Heather Ann Thompson's phenomenal Fear & Fury: The Reagan Eighties, the Bernie Goetz Shootings, and the Rebirth of White Rage. I'll be doing a video soon, but it is an expertly-crafted tale of a tragic moment that centers the humanity of those involved while also teasing out the larger context. It's heavy, sobering, but necessary--and sadly, all the more relevant.
• This has nothing to do with history, but I thought the movie Crime 101 was superb.

And that's all I have for this week. I hope to see many of you at Wednesday's live discussion with Eli McCann at 2pm MT!

Benjamin Park, historian and nerd