Acquisitions

With more than ten years of experience in university press publishing, I acquire scholarly and trade work for scholars, students, and general readers in U.S. and world history, geography, and environmental studies. Within these broad areas I am particularly interested in manuscripts about the history of the American West, Latin America, Pacific worlds, and polar regions. I also acquire in cultural history and military history, as well as environmental history, with an emphasis on spatial history and the history of health and medicine. My own academic work has focused on environmental history and the American West.

Series:

• Cultural Geographies + Rewriting the Earth
• Discover the Great Plains
• France Overseas
• Many Wests
• New Hispanisms
• Our Sustainable Future
• Studies in Pacific Worlds
• Studies in War, Society, and the Military
• The Complete Letters of Henry James
• The Mexican Experience
• The Papers of William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody
• Women and Gender in the Early Modern World

With fifteen years of experience in scholarly publishing, I acquire in Native American and Indigenous studies and borderlands history. I have sponsored The Franz Boas Papers: Documentary Edition (25 vols.); Andrew W. Mellon–funded initiatives; and many award-winning books in Native American and Indigenous studies, western history, memoir, and general nonfiction. Previously I was the acquiring editor for western history and literary studies at the University of Oklahoma Press and was editor in chief of the San Diego History Center’s Journal of San Diego History. Before joining UNP in 2008 I taught the history of the American West and American intellectual and cultural history at the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, Oklahoma State University, and the University of Nebraska–Kearney. I am the author of The San Diego World’s Fairs and Southwestern Memory, 1880–1940 (University of New Mexico Press, 2005). In my spare time I enjoy gardening, skateboarding, and remodeling my 1908 house in Lincoln.

Series:

• Borderlands and Transcultural Studies
• Critical Studies in the History of Anthropology
• Early American Places
• Early Modern Cultural Studies
• Historical Archaeology of the American West
• Indigenous Films
• New Visions in Native American and Indigenous Studies
• Recovering Languages and Literacies of the Americas
• Studies in the Anthropology of North America
• Studies in the Native Languages of the Americas
• The Franz Boas Papers: Documentary Edition
• Native Literatures of the Americas
• The Society of Historical Archaeology’s Essential Guides to Material Culture

I acquire scholarly monographs in American studies and cultural criticism, concentrating on cutting-edge interdisciplinary scholarship. I also acquire trade creative works, including literary translations. Though primarily focused on creative nonfiction, such as memoirs and essays, I also seek works of fiction set on the Great Plains. I’ve worked in scholarly publishing since 2005 and am the editor of three UNP books: American Lives: A Reader; Golden West: Fifty Years of Bison Books; and (with Jerry Madden) Wright Morris Territory: A Treasury of Work.

Series:

• American Lives
• Anthropology of Contemporary North America
• At Table
• Expanding Frontiers
• Flyover Fiction
• Frontiers of Narrative
• Postwestern Horizons
• Provocations

I am the acquiring editor for Potomac Books, an imprint of the Press since 2013. I’m interested in biographies and memoirs, world and national affairs, military history—including the Civil War—and military affairs, national and international security, and intelligence. I’ve been with the Press since 2005 and in the book industry for thirty-five years. I began my time at UNP as manager of Bison Books, our imprint widely regarded as the home of some of the best books in classic western literature and Native studies. I am a graduate of the University of South Dakota.

I acquire and develop sports books for both trade and scholarly audiences. My acquiring interests include all the major team and individual sports, with particular interest in biographies, accounts of specific eras or seasons, and narrative nonfiction. On the scholarly side I acquire sports history and monographs that focus on current topics in sports, including race, gender, and globalization. Across both lists I’m interested in sports as a point of entry into American culture and how sports reflect to a large degree who we are as a people. I also acquire spaceflight history, including the renowned Outward Odyssey series. Prior to joining the Press in 2003 I worked for Contemporary Books/McGraw-Hill in Chicago.

Series:

• Politics and Governments of the United States
• Outdoor Lives
• Outward Odyssey
• Sports, Media, and Society

I assist Rob Taylor. Please contact me if you have questions regarding his areas of acquisition. I also oversee our series-based poetry program. I received my BA in English from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in 2008 and have worked in scholarly publishing since 2009. 

Series:

• African Poetry Book
• Prairie Schooner Book Prize
• Ted Kooser Contemporary Poetry

I assist Matt Bokovoy and am the acquisitions liaison to the Jewish Publication Society. Please contact me if you have questions regarding these areas of acquisition. I hold master’s degrees in history (2008) and English (2012), both from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, and am coauthor of the book Kearney: The Midway City with Mark R. Ellis (Arcadia, 2006).

Series:

• American Indian Lives
• Indigenous Education

I assist Tom Swanson and Alicia Christensen. Please contact me with any questions regarding their areas of acquisition. I graduated from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, where I received a bachelor of journalism with a focus in English.

I assist Bridget Barry and Alicia Christensen and am the acquisitions editor for the Polar Studies series. I am also the managing editor of The Backwaters Press annual poetry contest. Please contact me with any questions regarding these areas of acquisition. I have worked in scholarly publishing since 2015 and received my bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of South Dakota in 2009. I am currently pursuing a master’s degree in history from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.

Series:

• The Backwaters Prize in Poetry
• Polar Studies