Ph.D., University of Chicago
M.A., Columbia University
B.A., University of Texas at Austin
My research and teaching has focused primarily on the intersection of 20th c. U.S. history with urban history, civil rights, race, ethnicity, immigration, and religion, but I also have interests in oral history, ethnography, and folklore/music.
Praise for City of Gods: Religious Freedom, Immigration, and Pluralism in Flushing, Queens
"A minutely detailed... 'case study' of the promises and drawbacks of pluralism." - The New York Times
"[an] intimate portrait of lived religion... inspiring... deserves a place alongside Robert Orsi's The Madonna of 115th Street." - Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
"a timely book because it provides a framework for understanding current controversies over immigration" - America: The Jesuit Review
"Outstanding" - Journal of Ethnic and Racial Studies
"exhaustively researched and compellingly written" - Journal of American Ethnic History
HIST 021: U.S. History since 1865
HIST 164: Recent American History
HIST 204: America in the 1960s
HIST 153/URBS 104: Urban Crisis: the American City since 1945
HIST/URBS 367: History of Philadelphia
URBS 270: The Immigrant City
HIST 455: Immigration, Religion, and Ethnic Relations in U.S. History
HIST 455: Melting Pots, Mosaics, and Walls: Immigration and Diversity in American History
HIST 204: Puritans to Religious Right: Religion and Politics in America
HIST 204: History of American Music
"God Lives in in Queens," Brian Lehrer Show, WNYC Radio, January 24, 2017.
"Donald Trump, God, and the Depth of Faith," TIME, January 22, 2017.
"At Home With Diversity," Dallas Morning News, January 17, 2017.
"Religious Diversity in Flushing, Queens," American History TV, C-SPAN3, December 27, 2016.
City of Gods: Religious Freedom, Immigration and Pluralism in Flushing, Queens (New York: Fordham University Press, 2016).
"Teaching the Religious History of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia," Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies, Vol. 139, No. 1, A Special Collaborative Issue: Teaching Pennsylvania History (January 2015).
“Presidents as Pastors in Chief: An Update on Religion in Inaugural Addresses,” Sightings, the Martin Marty Center, the University of Chicago Divinity School (February 7, 2013).
“Piloting an Online Course in the City of Neighborhoods,” Temple University Faculty Herald, Volume 43, Number 1 (October, 2012).
Review of Robert Wuthnow, America and the Challenges of Religious Diversity, Journal of Religion (January 2007).
“Hindus” and “Sikhs,” in The Encyclopedia of New York State (Albany: Syracuse U. Press, 2005).
“Understanding and Celebrating Religious Diversity in Britain: A Case Study of Leicester since 1970 making comparison with Flushing, Queens County, New York City,” with Richard Bonney, Encounters 9:2 (2003).
Review of Robert A. Orsi, ed. Gods of the City: Religion and the American Urban Landscape, H-Net list on Urban History (March 2001).
Review of Harry S. Stout and D. G. Hart, eds., New Directions in American Religious History, Journal of Religion (October 1999).
“Sri Maha Vallabha Ganapati Devasthanam of Flushing, New York” in T. S. Rukmani, ed., Hindu Diasporas: Global Perspectives (Montreal: Department of Religion, 1999).
“Temples and Mosques of New York City,” in Diana L. Eck, ed., On Common Ground: World Religions in America, 2nd ed. (1997; New York: Columbia U. Press, 2001). CD-ROM.
Director of the Social Justice Research Academy
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/summer/programs/high-school/social-justice
Project Affiliate, The Pluralism Project
Harvard University
http://pluralism.org/affiliates/shanson/