Austin Clements

Austin Clements is a PhD candidate in the Department of History at Stanford University. He studies American religious, cultural, and intellectual history in the twentieth century, specifically looking at rightwing thought and extremism. His research focuses on the emergence of anticommunism within American religious communities—including Catholicism, Protestantism, Judaism, and Mormonism—during the interwar period, and the relationship between American anticommunism and the rise of fascism. He has presented his research at the American Academy of Religion, the American Catholic Historical Association, the Society for US Intellectual History, the American Jewish Historical Society, and the American Political History Conference. Before coming to Stanford, he worked in the countertop trades in Phoenix, AZ. He holds a BA in History (Honors, summa cum laude) from Arizona State University. He lives in Stanford with his wife and three children. As graduate student coordinator, he hopes to bring his unique perspective and experience to a range of important and relevant themes relating to the relationship between religion (broadly defined) and politics in cultures and societies across space and time. When not engrossed in his studies, Austin enjoys spending time with his family and playing bass guitar.