Megan Kate Nelson Live at Tattered Cover Aspen Grove
About this Event
Writer and historian Megan Kate Nelson is joining us on Thursday, August 27th at 5:30 PM at our Aspen Grove location to share about her new book, The Westerners: Mythmaking and Belonging on the American Frontier!
Registration includes the following options:
- A signed Hardcover copy of the book … OR
- A $5 Gift Card to Tattered Cover Book Store
We will have a limited supply of additional books for guests to purchase in store. Only a book ticket guarantees you a copy of the book.
This event includes an opportunity to meet the author, participate in an audience Q&A after the book talk, and get your book(s) signed and personalized. Photos with the author are welcome!
If you are unable to attend the event after purchasing a ticket, you are required to pick up your copy of the book (with proof of purchase from your event registration) within 7 days after the event date. If the book is not picked up by that date, you relinquish your copy to Tattered Cover Book Store.
ABOUT THE BOOK
“A uniquely compelling look at the dynamism and conflict that defined the West” (Booklist), shattering the traditional frontier myth that has dominated popular American culture.
“A richly layered portrait of the nineteenth-century frontier” (Publishers Weekly, starred review), The Westerners is an epic counter-history of the American West told in two interwoven stories. The first reveals the captivating lives of women and men moving through the American West—Indigenous peoples, Black Americans, Mexican Americans, and Canadian and Asian immigrants—in the 19th century. The second tracks the attempts of many Americans to erase these westerners from history, through the formation of a national mythology that lionized individualism and conquest and celebrated white settlers traveling west in search of prosperity.
This vivid, eye-opening account is a new history of the frontier, told through the lives of seven extraordinary individuals: 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 insight made him an important player in western geopolitics; María Gertrudis Barceló, a Hispana gambling saloon owner who broke every stereotype to become the wealthiest woman in Santa Fe; Ovando Hollister, a gold miner, soldier, and newspaperman who championed western expansion; Little Wolf, a Northern Cheyenne chief whose courageous leadership secured his people’s future; Canadian immigrant Ella Watson, who strove to become a rancher in a male-dominated world; and the defiant Polly Bemis, a Chinese immigrant who carved out a life in Idaho despite federal expulsion efforts.
Highlighting the perseverance and ingenuity of communities that have otherwise been forgotten or erased, this important book challenges us to reimagine who we are and where we came from. “Nelson’s deft hand at writing draws the reader in with heartfelt and engaging storytelling” (The Colorado Sun).
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Born and raised in Colorado, Megan Kate Nelson is a writer and historian now based in Boston, Massachusetts. She has written about US western history, the Civil War, and American culture for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Slate, Time, and Smithsonian Magazine. Nelson earned her BA in history and literature from Harvard University and her PhD in American studies from the University of Iowa. She is the author of Saving Yellowstone; The Three-Cornered War, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize; Ruin Nation; and Trembling Earth.
Where is it happening?
USD 7.25 to USD 37.31
