Saving Yellowstone: The Creation of a National Icon
September 22, 2022
The Great Hall
This week we are joined by author, historian, and national park expert, Megan Kate Nelson.
Megan comes to the A.P.E.X. stage to share her insights and research on the history of one of America’s greatest gems, Yellowstone National Park. Her lecture “Saving Yellowstone, the Creation of a National Icon”, will cover her findings from her most recent book. Nelson published Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America this year on the 150th anniversary of the Yellowstone Act, which created the first national park in the world.
Nelson is an expert in the history of the American Civil War, the U.S. West, and popular culture. This past year, she was elected as a fellow of the Society of American Historians. She has written articles about these topics for The New York Times, Washington Post, TIME, The Atlantic, Smithsonian Magazine, Preservation Magazine, and Civil War Times. Nelson is also the author of The Three-Cornered War: The Union, the Confederacy, and Native Peoples in the Fight for the West, which was a Finalist for the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in History.
Podcast
Songs Played in the Episode:
The Head and the Heart, “Virginia (Wind in the Night)”
Daisy the Great, “The Record Player Song”
Arcade Fire, “The Lightning I and II”