Benjamin Park

Two militiamen holding muskets

My forthcoming book with @cornellupress.bsky.social has a COVER!!! 🔥🔥🔥

As the Supreme Court Focuses on the Past, Historians Turn to Advocacy

How the hell do you write a piece about historians writing for the courts that quotes three judges and four law profs but ZERO historians?

Just to be clear here, does she know what happened to Rasputin or the Romanovs

I’m really excited for the conference this fall, in part because it will be my first trip to Detroit!

Cover of Dialogue, Volume 58, Issue 2, Summer 2025 On the covers: Julie Yuen Yim, The Plan of Salvation II, 2019, Chinese paper cutting, 21” x 21”

📣 New special issue of @dialoguejournal.bsky.social "Book of Mormon in Contemporary Scholarship" (58.2). Featuring John Durham Peters, William L. Davis, Ryan A. Davis, @colbytownsend.bsky.social & more.

#OpenAccess cc: @taylorpetrey.bsky.social
scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/dial/iss...

Feel like its a bad sign about the health of the republic that Pritzker has to talk about TX Dems like they’re the Polish government-in-exile in London

the voting rights act is, in its entirety, obviously constitutional under the 15th amendment, which gives congress broad and proactive authority to stop racial discrimination in voting. and you know it is obviously constitutional because roberts has had to invent entire new doctrines to gut it.

a bald man in a gray shirt is flexing his muscles ALT: a bald man in a gray shirt is flexing his muscles

Was there a guy on set whose only job was to mist The Rock with baby oil so he always maintained his glistening appearance?

a man with a beard is looking at the camera and saying `` i 'll see you soon '' . ALT: a man with a beard is looking at the camera and saying `` i 'll see you soon '' .

Quarantining in a hotel room instead of attending a conference is deeply horrible but it gets marginally better when the cinematic masterpiece Fast Five is playing.

YouTube video by Professor Benjamin Park How Mormon History Explains America

I’m frequently asked about my favorite books in Mormon history. It’s an impossible question, and my answer continually changes. But my latest YouTube video outlines some of my favorite books that place Mormonism within the broader context of US history.
youtu.be/cCSALC8-86U

a man in a captain america costume is wearing a blue helmet with the letter a on it . ALT: a man in a captain america costume is wearing a blue helmet with the letter a on it .

Major takeaway after being stuck in a hotel room for three days:

There is never a time when at least one cable channel isn’t showing a Marvel movie.

Yeah, symptoms of a head cold, which I thought it was until a family member tested positive.

It feels pretty rude to get COVID in 2025.

It feels even ruder to get COVID while you're at a conference so you have to spend the weekend in a hotel room.

Palestinian children have been killed at a rate of more than one child per hour during Israel's war in Gaza.

“A whole classroom of children killed every day for nearly two years,” UNICEF’s executive director said.

Here are some of their stories: wapo.st/3UCiAjn

I quote that in the video!

YouTube video by Professor Benjamin Park Polygamy, Godhood, and Heavenly Mother—Still LDS Doctrine?

Polygamy, Godhood, and Heavenly Mother—Still LDS Doctrine?
youtu.be/NvwieFj0lY0

Think I can buy a house overlooking Bear Lake and write it off as a business expense for my YouTube account?

(Also, I have a new video up that traces the long and intertwined Mormon beliefs in deification, Heavenly Mother, and polygamy.)

Bear Lake, Utah.

Sunrise on Bear Lake, UT.

Not to brag, but this is my morning view for the next few days.

The latter, sadly.

How Mormon is my family, you ask?

Someone at my reunion took jello salad to the next level and made rice crispy treats with potato chips.

The cover for the upcoming volume "The Campus Crisis Toolkit: Strategies and Solidarity for the Rest of Us"

IT HAS A COVER! Pleased to announce that _The Campus Crisis Toolkit: Strategies and Solidarity For the Rest of Us_ is coming from @sunypress.bsky.social in Feb. With 25 chapters from over 40 contributors, the book tackles everything from anti-DEI laws to consultants and cuts to campus violence (1/2)

YouTube video by Professor Benjamin Park How Mormon Pioneers Fled America to Build Their Own Empire

Today is Utah’s Pioneer Day, which commemorates Mormons arriving in Salt Lake Valley. I did a YouTube video about the three lessons I wish people learned about Pioneer Day’s complicated history.

How Mormon Pioneers Fled America to Build Their Own Empire
youtu.be/hwDIpcHT1O8

So good to hear! I hope the last 2/3rds are as enjoyable.

The new EDDINGTON film is a lot of things, but it’s also the most terminally online film I’ve ever seen. Basically a fever dream of online discourse from the past 5 years.

I still don’t understand how I ended up in a place that is horrendously hot and humid at 3am.

I’m nearly done with the new William Buckley bio. Among the many revelations, the dude was atrocious with money, despite 1) his family’s *immense* wealth, and 2) his acting as if he was a master of capitalism.

Fantastic! The Liveright team is the absolute best.

Last week, a very special package from @uncpress.bsky.social arrived! I was traveling and eager to touch the Word files turned into PDF files transformed into real paper between glossy covers. Canal Dreamers is a dream come true for me! My nine-year-old son snapped a perfect memory of the moment. 🗃️

Providence is gorgeous. This was my first time to the city, so I took an afternoon exploring the historic districts, monuments, churches, and Brown.

(The @shearites.bsky.social conference was pretty good, too.)