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What are YOUR superpowers?

Lori Elaine Taylor is an independent scholar

with a specialization in propaganda, persuasion, and the slippery stories people tell themselves about their collective pasts. Her work includes religion and racism, music and music communities, and labor history. Lori completed her Ph.D. at the University at Buffalo and her M.A. at The George Washington University. The John Whitmer Historical Association awarded her “Best Dissertation” for “Telling Stories about Mormons and Indians.” She recently published flash fiction, “Latter-day Confederacy of Many Nations,” in the alternate history anthology, States of Deseret. Her superpowers are writing Python, speaking Finnish, and managing campaigns for federal office.

Telling Stories about Mormons and Indians


An exploration of histories, lies, and fantasies told by Mormons and American Indians about one another. These facts and opinions make possible some surprising stories. In the spirit of writing the story she wants to read, though, Lori has waded into making up the facts and telling new stories.

Scholar and writer, telling stories.

More about Lori

Read what you will

Eventually, most of my academic work and new writing will be here.

For now, selections available through Articles and Blog.

Articles & Academic Writing

Dissertation, thesis, sound recordings, and other publications. Political and labor music, religion and racism, sustainability, and American culture.

Read Articles

Blog

Micro & macro. I have no need to keep this professional. Having no institutional base to protect is liberating. You should try it.

Read Blog

I think in music

Whether the music is on or not, I always hear a soundtrack.

Do you really wanna know about these lines on my face? Well, each and every one is testament to all the mistakes I've had to make to find courage.

Villagers,
"Courage"

I see the big mountains,
The mist-covered peaks
As I linger the land of my birth, I am welcomed in the language I cherish.

Chi Mi Na Mòrbheanna

Our ideas held no water,
but we used them
like a dam.

Modest Mouse,
"Missed the Boat"

Set your life on fire.
Seek those who fan your flames.

Rumi

What are you reading?

Let's get together on Goodreads and share.

I'm going through several phases: belonging, persuasion, and global fiction.

Currently Reading

  • Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist, Kate Raworth
  • Policy Paradox: The Art of Political Decision Making, Deborah Stone
  • Research Is Ceremony: Indigenous Research Methods, Shawn Wilson
  • Learn to Play Go: A Master's Guide to the Ultimate Game, Janice Kim, Jeong Soo-Hyun
  • The Lincoln Highway, Amor Towles
  • Third Millennium Thinking: Creating Sense in a World of Nonsense, Perlmutter, Maccoun, and Campbell

Recently Read

  • The Island of Missing Trees, Elif Shafak
  • The Persuaders: At the Front Lines of the Fight for Hearts, Minds, and Democracy, Anand Giridharadas
  • Civilizations, Laurent Binet
  • Belonging: The Science of Creating Connection and Bridging Divides, Geoffrey L. Cohen
  • Chair of Tears, Gerald Vizenor
  • Fieldwork in Ukrainian Sex, Oksana Zabuzhko
  • See No Stranger: A Memoir and Manifesto of Revolutionary Love, Valarie Kaur

Contact me

Give it a try

I might answer. Probably. Maybe. Contact
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