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:
- America’s Public Lands
- Anthropology of Contemporary North America
- At Table
- Confluencias
- Cultural Geographies + Rewriting the Earth
- France Overseas
- Many Wests
- Our Sustainable Future
- Provocations
- Studies in Pacific Worlds
- Studies in War, Society, and the Military
- The Complete Letters of Henry James
- The Papers of William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody
- Women and Gender in the Early Modern World
With eighteen years of experience in scholarly publishing, I acquire in Native American and Indigenous studies, anthropology and ethnography, and borderlands history. I have sponsored The Franz Boas Papers: Documentary Edition (25 vols.); Andrew W. Mellon Foundation–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 and Indigenous World Literatures
- The Society of Historical Archaeology’s Essential Guides to Material Culture
Tom Swanson
Potomac Books Editor
tswanson3@unl.edu
402-472-5945
Recent Books
There I Go Again
Vice Capades
Upstairs at the Roosevelts'
Treacherous Passage
As the acquiring editor for Potomac Books, an imprint of the Press since 2013, I am interested in biographies and memoirs, world and national affairs, military history—including the Civil War—and military affairs, and national and international security and intelligence. I’ve been with the Press since 2005, originally as the manager of Bison Books, and in the book industry for thirty-five years.
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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.
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I am a U.S. Coast Guard veteran with a PhD in history from the University of Colorado, and I have over twenty years of publishing experience. I acquire for Bison Books, UNP’s imprint widely regarded as the home of some of the best books in classic western literature and Native studies. I also acquire in the history and culture of the American West and Great Plains as well as environmental studies.
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I acquire trade creative works and oversee our series-based poetry program. Though my list is primarily focused on creative nonfiction, I also seek works of fiction set on the Great Plains. In addition to my own projects, I work with Rob Taylor on his general interest and scholarly books. I graduated from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln with a B.A. in English and have worked in scholarly publishing since 2009.
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I assist Tom Swanson with the Potomac Books imprint and Clark Whitehorn with the Bison Books imprint, focusing mostly on general trade titles. I received a bachelor of arts degree in English from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Please contact me if you have questions regarding these areas of acquisition.
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).
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I am the acquiring editor for the Expanding Frontiers, Engendering Latin America, and Polar Studies series, and I acquire in women’s, gender, and sexuality studies; American studies; media studies; and global history. I am also the managing editor of the Backwaters Press annual poetry contest. In addition, I assist our editor in chief, Bridget Barry, with her acquisitions lists. I received my master’s degree in history from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and have worked in scholarly publishing since 2015.
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I graduated with a BA in education from the University of Nebraska–Kearney and began my career in York, Nebraska, as an elementary school teacher and reading specialist for twenty-five years. Before coming to the press in 2007 I worked with the director of the UNL Child Care Center. At UNP I am part of the Business and Acquisitions Departments, and I’m proud to be a part of a team that publishes such outstanding books and journals.