How the Real West was Lost: The Frontier Myth and the Erasure of U.S. Western History
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Over the course of the nineteenth century, what we know as “The American West” came into being. In this talk, Pulitzer Prize finalist Megan Kate Nelson will explain how diverse communities grew and flourished in the region, while (at the same time), they were erased from a frontier myth that lionized individualism and celebrated white settlers traveling west in search of prosperity.
Drawing on material from her new book, The Westerners (published by Scribner in 2026), Dr. Nelson will describe the individual and federal actions that created these cultural tensions during the nineteenth century. She will introduce three of the protagonists in her book, whose popular memories were manipulated in the years after their deaths: Sacajawea, not just Lewis and Clark’s guide but an explorer who forged her own path; Jim Beckwourth, a biracial fur trader whose sharp cultural insights made him famous in his time; and the defiant Ella Watson, a Canadian immigrant with dreams of becoming a cattle rancher in Wyoming.
Megan Kate Nelson
Born and raised in Colorado, Megan Kate Nelson is a historian and writer based in Boston, with a BA from Harvard and a PhD in American Studies from the University of Iowa. She is the author of five books, including The Westerners: Mythmaking and Belonging on the American Frontier (Scribner 2026); Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America (Scribner 2022; winner of the 2023 Spur Award for Historical Non-Fiction); and The Three-Cornered War: The Union, the Confederacy, and Native Peoples in the Fight for the West (Scribner 2020; 2021 Pulitzer Prize finalist in History). Megan writes about the Civil War, the U.S. West, and American culture for The New York Times, Washington Post, The Atlantic, Smithsonian Magazine, Slate, and Time. She is also a founding editor of Drafting the Past, a new media platform that publishes book reviews, features, and podcasts about history nonfiction writing and publishing.
Drawing on material from her new book, The Westerners (published by Scribner in 2026), Dr. Nelson will describe the individual and federal actions that created these cultural tensions during the nineteenth century. She will introduce three of the protagonists in her book, whose popular memories were manipulated in the years after their deaths: Sacajawea, not just Lewis and Clark’s guide but an explorer who forged her own path; Jim Beckwourth, a biracial fur trader whose sharp cultural insights made him famous in his time; and the defiant Ella Watson, a Canadian immigrant with dreams of becoming a cattle rancher in Wyoming.
Megan Kate Nelson
Born and raised in Colorado, Megan Kate Nelson is a historian and writer based in Boston, with a BA from Harvard and a PhD in American Studies from the University of Iowa. She is the author of five books, including The Westerners: Mythmaking and Belonging on the American Frontier (Scribner 2026); Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America (Scribner 2022; winner of the 2023 Spur Award for Historical Non-Fiction); and The Three-Cornered War: The Union, the Confederacy, and Native Peoples in the Fight for the West (Scribner 2020; 2021 Pulitzer Prize finalist in History). Megan writes about the Civil War, the U.S. West, and American culture for The New York Times, Washington Post, The Atlantic, Smithsonian Magazine, Slate, and Time. She is also a founding editor of Drafting the Past, a new media platform that publishes book reviews, features, and podcasts about history nonfiction writing and publishing.
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Where is it happening?
800 W Campbell Rd, Richardson, TX, United States, Texas 75080
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
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Host or PublisherBass School at UT Dallas
