Introduction

I specialize in the regional study of the North American West through environmental history and various categories of public history. Through my historical scholarship, I seek to better understand the relationship between people and places often disparaged as wastelands. In the American West, this includes the Great Basin, Mojave Desert, and the Colorado Plateau. Globally, these wasteland places encompass one-fifth of the earth’s land base, and have included activities as disparate as nuclear testing and wild horse preservation.