Spencer W. McBride is a historian, writer, speaker, and podcaster. He is the author of multiple books on religion and American politics.
McBride’s writing on the evolving role of religion in American political culture has been featured in publications such as the Washington Post and the Deseret News.
Author
Joseph Smith for President: The Prophet, the Assassins, and the Fight for American Religious Freedom
Oxford University Press, 2021
“In Spencer McBride's skilled hands, the story of Joseph Smith's quixotic 1844 presidential campaign reveals new aspects of the radically circumscribed nature of liberty in the American Republic. This marvelous volume combines a compelling history of the early LDS Church with a pointed critique of the myth of American religious freedom.” –Amy S. Greenberg, author of Lady First: The World of First Lady Sarah Polk
“Spencer McBride obliges us to see Joseph Smith in a stark new light: not merely as a prophet who was assassinated, but as a presidential candidate whose campaign could not be separated from the force of religious persecution. From this illuminating, deeply researched account emerges a picture of the dark underbelly of states’ rights abuses and mob violence that shaped the election of 1844. It’s a story well-suited to our own intolerant times.” –Nancy Isenberg, author of White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America.
Contingent Citizens: Shifting Perceptions of Latter-day Saints in American Political Culture
Cornell University Press, 2020
Contingent Citizens features fourteen essays that track changes in the ways Americans have perceived the Latter-day Saints since the 1830s. From presidential politics to political violence, to the definition of marriage, to the meaning of sexual equality—the editors and contributors place Mormons in larger American histories of territorial expansion, religious mission, Constitutional interpretation, and state formation. These essays also show that the political support of the Latter-day Saints has proven, at critical junctures, valuable to other political groups. The willingness of Americans to accept Latter-day Saints as full participants in the US political system has varied over time and been impelled by political expediency, granting Mormons in the United States an ambiguous status, contingent on changing political needs and perceptions.
“This book, edited by Spencer W. McBride, Brent M. Rogers, and Keith A. Erekson makes an important contribution to understanding the place of Mormonism in US history.” —Amanda Porterfield, Florida State University, author of Corporate Spirit
Pulpit and Nation: Clergymen and the Politics of Revolutionary America
University of Virginia Press, 2016
In Pulpit and Nation, Spencer McBride highlights the importance of Protestant clergymen in early American political culture, elucidating the actual role of religion in the founding era. Offering a fresh examination of some of the key junctures in the development of the American political system―the Revolution, the ratification debates of 1787–88, and the formation of political parties in the 1790s―McBride shows how religious arguments, sentiments, and motivations were subtly interwoven with political ones in the creation of the early American republic.
“Pulpit and Nation is indispensable reading for students of the complex and often ambiguous interplay between religion and politics during the conflict with Great Britain and its aftermath. [The book] reminds us, if we need reminding, that an ongoing, energetic debate on the prudential and constitutional place of religion in national politics is among the enduring legacies of the founding era.” —American Historical Review
Speaker
Spencer W. McBride frequently speaks to audiences about United States history. Below are selected recent speaking engagements.
Please send all scheduling inquiries via email.
Selected Past Speaking Engagements
“The Origins and Legacy of the Burned-over District,” Chautauqua Institution, Chautauqua, NY, June 2019.
“Religious Awakenings and the American Identity,” Chautauqua Institution, Chautauqua, NY, July 2018.
“Religion and the Politics of Revolutionary America,” Southern Utah University, Cedar City, UT, April 2018.
“Was the Constitution the Problem?: The Politics of Religious Intolerance in Nineteenth-Century America,” Utah Valley University, March 2018.
“To Pray, or Not to Pray, for the King: Anglican Clergymen and Liturgical Politics in the American Revolution,” John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics, St. Louis, MO, March 2018.
“Religion and the Politics of the American Revolution," The King’s English, Salt Lake City, UT, May 2017.
“Religion and Political Mobilization in the American Revolution,” Yale University, New Haven, CT, April 2017.
“Beyond the ‘Christian Nation’ Question: Religion and the Founding of the United States,” Fraunces Tavern Museum, New York, NY, April 2017.
Podcaster
McBride is the creator and host of three podcast miniseries produced by the Joseph Smith Papers Project.
These documentary style podcast miniseries have received tremendous attention, with more than 1 million downloads and streams to date.
The First Vision: A Joseph Smith Papers Podcast
January, 2020
The First Vision: A Joseph Smith Papers Podcast is a six-part miniseries from the Joseph Smith Papers Project that explores the history and legacy of Joseph Smith’s first vision. Series host Spencer W. McBride interviews historians in a documentary-style podcast about this pivotal event in Latter-day Saint history.
Find the podcast on your preferred platform here.
The Priesthood Restored: A Joseph Smith Papers Podcast is a six-part miniseries from the Joseph Smith Papers Project that explores the events and circumstances that played a role in the restoration of the priesthood. Series host Spencer W. McBride interviews historians, researchers, and others in a documentary-style podcast about this defining topic in Latter-day Saint history.
Find the podcast on your preferred platform here.
The Nauvoo Temple: A Joseph Smith Papers Podcast
Coming October 2021!
Find updates on the release of The Nauvoo Temple: A Joseph Smith Papers Podcast here.
