Lawrence Foster

Professor

(PhD, University of Chicago, 1976) specializes in American religious and social history, and has strong interests in modern European and comparative history, as well. Stimulated by his experiences as a Fulbright Fellow in Australia and New Zealand in 1985 and 1986, he also teaches a course in the history of the British Empire. His most recent research and teaching interests have centered on changes in American family patterns and sex roles, the social impact of new and controversial religious movements (or "cults"), and the dynamics of mass movements and political revolutions. Foster has served as president of the Communal Studies Association and (although he is not a Mormon) of the 1,000 member Mormon History Association. He has published more than forty articles and three books: Religion and Sexuality, Women, Family, and Utopia, and Free Love in Utopia — focusing primarily on the celibate Shakers, "free love" Oneida Community, and polygamous Mormons in nineteenth-century America.

Contact Information: D.M. Smith 316
Phone: 404.894.6845
E-mail: lawrence.foster@hts.gatech.edu