Lori Cox Han, PhD
Professor of Political Science
Doy B. Henley Chair of American Presidential Studies

Dr. Lori Cox Han’s (Political Science) latest publication is a two-volume encyclopedia on the history and implications of political violence in the U.S.

Written in collaboration with her husband Tomislav Han, an independent scholar and author of The Transformation of Aristotelian Political Epistemology in Eighteenth-Century American Constitutional Discourse, the 657-page manuscript covers 300 years in American history, from four president’s assassinations, civil war, racist attacks, clashes between protesting citizens and law enforcement, politically motivated mass shootings and so much more.

“We have been working on this since 2018,” said Han, who also holds the Doy B. Henley Chair of American Presidential Studies. “A large project like this takes time to line up the contributors and to keep it all organized. We were approached by the publisher (ABC-CLIO) to see if we were interested in serving as editors. It seemed timely in 2018, but even more so now.”

There are several Wilkinson College faculty and alumni contributors to Political Violence in America: Historical Flashpoints and Modern-Day Trends, including Dr. Gordon Babst (Political Science), Dr. Andrea Molle (Political Science), Dr. Ron Steiner (Pre-Law, Political Science), Andrew Harmon (Center for American War Letters), Leana Sottile (History ’20; MA, War and Society ’21) and Jake Ummel (Political Science, Sociology ’19).

Dr. Babst wrote an entry on the assassination of Harvey Milk in San Francisco and the act of misplaced vengeance and hate crimes. “It is an interesting volume that, alas, needs updating constantly,” he said.

Originally, the manuscript was to be finalized in early 2021, but after the politically motivated January 6, 2021 insurrectionist attack on the U.S. CapitolDr. Cox Han updated the introduction and included an essay analyzingwhat took place that day.

“Pleased to finally have this published,” said Dr. Cox Han. “Editing a major project like this takes a lot of organization and persistence, but we are definitely pleased with the end result.”