S1E12 Megan Kate Nelson - Historian and Writer, Boston

Today's guest is Megan Kate Nelson, a 2021 Pulitzer Prize in History finalist for her outstanding book The Three-Cornered War: The Union, the Confederacy, and Native Peoples in the Fight for the West (Scribner, 2020), which also earned the following mentions:

• Smithsonian Magazine's Top Ten History Books of 2020
• Civil War Monitor's Top Civil War Books of 2020
• 2021 Emerging Civil War Book Award
• 2021 Pate Award, Fort Worth (Tex.) Civil War Roundtable
• Business Insider's 23 Best History Books Written by Women
• Finalist, 2021 Reading the West Book Award (Narrative Non-Fiction)
• Fifty Books of the West List, Tattered Cover Bookstore and the Colorado Sun

Wow!

Some years ago, Megan left the academic world to become a full-time writer after teaching U.S. history and American Studies for several years at Texas Tech, Cal State Fullerton, Harvard, and Brown. She earned her B.A. in History and Literature from Harvard and a Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Iowa. Megan is primarily a historian of the American Civil War, the U.S. West, and popular culture. She has written related pieces for The New York Times, Washington Post, The Atlantic, Smithsonian Magazine, Preservation Magazine, and Civil War Times. Megan's column on Civil War popular culture, "Stereoscope," appears regularly in Civil War Monitor. She is also the author of Trembling Earth: A Cultural History of the Okefenokee Swamp (Georgia, 2009) and Ruin Nation: Destruction and the American Civil War (Georgia, 2012). A recent electee to the Society of American Historians, Megan's latest project is Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America, which Scribner will publish in March 2022. We've seen galleys - what a story!

Megan is also an avid cyclist and cocktail enthusiast - we'll also ask her about BBQ preferences. And her Twitter feed is worth your enjoyment - @megankatenelson, as is her blog Historista is both provocative and instructive for historians and anyone interested in history. Join us as we enter unchartered territory taking with a Pulitizer finalist!

A little Calusetwizian Electronic Friction - Brian's mic went out halfway through. He showed his genius in quickly switching to the built-in computer mic - he'll suddenly get a little louder!

Rec. 12/21/2021