Paul Renfro studies the political and cultural history of the United States since 1945, with thematic interests in gender/sexuality, the carceral state, and childhood and the family. Renfro received his PhD in history from the University of Iowa, where he was a Louis Pelzer Dissertation Fellow. Before arriving at Florida State University in 2018, he served as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

His book, Stranger Danger: Family Values, Childhood, and the American Carceral State (Oxford University Press, 2020), reveals how a moral panic focused on child kidnapping and exploitation gripped the United States beginning in the late 1970s. Stranger Danger demonstrates how this panic—fueled by bereaved parents, politicians from across the political spectrum, and news media entities—led to the development of punitive and expansive new laws, programs, and practices designed to protect children from dangerous "strangers."

Renfro's coedited anthology, Growing Up America: Youth and Politics since 1945 (University of Georgia Press, 2019), considers the significance of childhood and youth in recent American political history. He has also published in Feminist Studies, Southern Cultures, Enterprise & Society, and Disability Studies Quarterly. Renfro's public writing has appeared in TIME, the Washington Post, the New Republic, Slate, Dissent, Teen Vogue, and other outlets, and he has been interviewed for stories in ELLE, Jezebel, The Appeal, and Mother Jones. Tentatively titled Young Blood: Ryan White and AIDS, Renfro's next book is under advance contract with the University of North Carolina Press.

Teaching:
Spring 2023—The United States since 1877 (AMH 2020); Graduate Colloquium: The United States since 1968 (HIS 6934)