American Zion: A New History of Mormonism | Dr. Ben Park Guest Speaker

Baylor's Department of History and Department of Religion will be hosting Dr. Benjamin Park from Sam Houston State University as a guest speaker on January 23, 2024 from 3:30 pm to 5:00 pm in Armstrong Browning Library in the Lewis-Birkhead Lecture Hall.

Benjamin E. Park is an associate professor of history at Sam Houston State University. The co-editor of Mormon Studies Review, he has authored three books and edited two more. His book Kingdom of Nauvoo: The Rise and Fall of a Religious Empire on the American Frontier, won the Mormon History Association’s Best Book Award, was featured in The New Yorker, and has been optioned for a feature film. His new book, American Zion: A New History of Mormonism, will be published on January 16, 2024.

American Zion is the tale of how a homegrown faith birthed through a family in crisis became a global religion that remains closely connected to American culture. It shows how the tradition has been shaped by two hundred years of culture wars, clashes that took place both inside as well as outside the institution, resulting in a community that is socially conservative, politically Republican, yet culturally diverse. The first major history of the religion in over a decade, American Zion reveals a profoundly divided faith that has nevertheless shaped the nation.

You can find out more about Dr. Park's book or purchase it at W. W. Norton's website.