Megan Kate Nelson

Megan Kate Nelson is an American author and historian who has focused on environmental history, military history, and the American West. She was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for History for her book The Three-Cornered War.^[1]

Education

Megan Kate Nelson began her studies as an undergraduate at Harvard University, majoring in history and literature.^[2] She went on to earn her PhD in American Studies at the University of Iowa.

Career

Before becoming a full-time writer, she taught at Harvard University, Brown University, Cal State Fullerton, MIT, and Texas Tech University.^[2]

Her writings have focused on the American West, the Civil War, and the Reconstruction era. In addition to her books, she also has published articles in the New York Times,^[3] the Washington Post,^[4][5] Slate,^[6] Smithsonian Magazine,^[7][8][9] Chronicle of Higher Education,^[10] Preservation Magazine,^[11] and Civil War Times.^[12]

Selected works

Books

• Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America (Scribner, 2022)^[13]
• The Three-Cornered War: The Union, the Confederacy, and Native Peoples in the Fight for the West (Scribner, 2020)^[14]
• Ruin Nation: Destruction and the American Civil War (University of Georgia Press, 2012)^[15]
• Trembling Earth: A Cultural History of the Okefenokee Swamp (University of Georgia Press, 2005)^[16]

Awards and honors

• Pulitzer Prize Finalist in 2021 (The Three-Cornered War)^[1]
• Reading the West Book Award Longlist in 2021 (The Three-Cornered War)^[17]
• Spur Award for Best Historical Nonfiction Book in 2023 (Saving Yellowstone)^[18]
• Reading the West Book Award Longlist in 2023 (Saving Yellowstone)^[19]