Patrick Mason at Miller-Eccles

Patrick Mason, newly-appointed Hunter Chair of Mormon Studies at Claremont Graduate University, will address the Miller-Eccles study group on September 16th and 17th.
THE TOPIC: In addition to outlining plans at Claremont for the coming year, Patrick will speak on the subject covered in his book, recently published by the prestigious Oxford University Press, titled The Mormon Menace: Violence and Anti-Mormonism in the Postbellum South. The lynchings and other violent acts against Mormons during this period in the American South, constitute an important, but almost unknown slice of our history. Two reviews of Patrick’s highly-regarded book are reproduced below.
THE SPEAKER: Patrick Q. Mason is an Associate Professor of Religion at Claremont Graduate University and the newly-appointed Howard W. Hunter Chair of Mormon Studies. As noted above, he is the author of The Mormon Menace: Violence and Anti-Mormonism in the Postbellum South, published earlier this year by Oxford. He has also published numerous articles on Mormon history and American religious history, including a recent article on the nineteenth-century Mormon concept of theodemocracy and a forthcoming article about the murder of early LDS apostle Parley P. Pratt.
Patrick graduated with a B.A. in history from Brigham Young University, then earned his doctorate at the University of Notre Dame, where he specialized in American religious history and modern American history. Along the way he also earned an M.A. in international peace studies at Notre Dame. From 2007-2009 he was Assistant Professor of History and Associate Director of the Center for American Studies and Research at the American University in Cairo. Before coming to Claremont, he was Research Associate Professor at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame, and associate director of a new interdisciplinary research initiative called “Contending Modernities:  Catholic, Muslim, Secular.”
This semester at Claremont he is teaching courses titled “Approaches to Mormonism” and “American Evangelicalism, Fundamentalism, and Pentecostalism.”
Two reviews of Patrick’s Book:
“Patrick Mason tells an adventurous and violent story in this account of Mormon lynchings in the nineteenth-century South. His careful dissection of these bloody events leads us deep into the southern mentality and the contentious images of Mormonism in America. He finds the southern experience even reshaped Mormonism’s view of itself. No reader will come away from this book feeling entirely comfortable.” – Richard Bushman, Gouverneur Morris Professor of History, Emeritus, Columbia University
“A deeply researched, clearly written analysis of an almost unknown aspect of southern and religious history. It fills an important gap in scholarship and by so doing illuminates a wide variety of interpretative issues in both fields. This perceptive and creatively conceived study should be widely read and the author applauded for realizing the significance of a hitherto neglected topic.” — John Boles, William P. Hobby Professor of History, Rice University
THINGS YOU MAY ALREADY KNOW: The Miller Eccles Study group seeks to encourage LDS gospel scholarship, enlightenment and understanding in an open environment of good fellowship.  To assure an open and frank discussion, we request that our meetings not be recorded.  A donation of $10 per person (tax deductible) is suggested, but if this would be burdensome, contribute so much as is comfortable.  The contributions are used primarily for transportation, lodging and related expenses of our out-of-town speakers.  MESG is a non-profit, tax-exempt association, whose directors are Steve & Daryl Eccles, Russ & Christie Frandsen, Rob Briggs, Lael Littke, Armand & Ruth Mauss, Phil & Marilyn Bradford, and Dawn & Morris Thurston.