Christopher Grasso

Christopher Grasso serves as Professor of History at Brown University since 2022, specializing in American culture, religion, and politics from the 18th through 19th centuries. Previously holding the Pullen Professorship at William & Mary, he earned his PhD from Yale University in 1992 after completing undergraduate and master's studies at Southern Connecticut State University.

His research explores the intersections of religious skepticism and political identity in early America, with particular focus on conversion narratives, infidel movements, and Civil War-era violence. Current work examines Reconstruction politics through The Chisolm Massacre: Reconstruction and the Politics of Violence.

Grasso's publications reveal consistent engagement with religious dissent and political transformation, spanning colonial public discourse (A Speaking Aristocracy, 1999) to Civil War memoirs. His scholarship demonstrates methodological range across intellectual history, cultural analysis, and primary source editing.

• SHEAR Best Book Prize (2018)
• A. M. Pate, Jr. Award in Civil War History (2018)
• ACLS Fellowship (2016-17)
• National Humanities Center Fellowship (2016-2017)
• National Endowment for the Humanities Faculty Fellowship (2008-2009)

As Editor of the William & Mary Quarterly (2000-2013), Grasso shaped scholarly discourse in early American history while securing major grants from NEH, ACLS, and the National Humanities Center. His current project on Reconstruction violence continues this trajectory of examining how ideological conflicts manifest in societal trauma.