Episode 36: Joseph Smith, Lilburn Boggs, & the "Kingdom of Nauvoo" - Benjamin E. Park (Border Wars, Part 3)

With the announced renewal of the Missouri-Kansas sports rivalry in 2019, Our Missouri opens the first half of Season 3 with an examination of the origins and history behind this rivalry, while also looking at the conflicts that defined Missouri's borders and identity before, during, and after the Civil War. This episode features a conversation with Benjamin E. Park about his new book, "Kingdom of Nauvoo: The Rise & Fall of a Religious Empire on the American Frontier."

Episode Image: Tugboats on the Mississippi River, date unknown [Charles Trefts Photographs (P0034), SHSMO]

About the Guest: Benjamin E. Park holds a PhD in History from the University of Cambridge. He also served as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Missouri's Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy. Presently, he serves as an assistant professor of history at Sam Houston State University. He is the author of "American Nationalisms: Imagining Union in an Age of Revolutions." His recent book, "Kingdom of Nauvoo: The Rise & Fall of a Religious Empire on the American Frontier," was published in 2020.