Betsy Gaines Quammen, PhD
Historian & Writer
Author of American Zion & True West, Gaines Quammen collects stories to make sense of a place defined by colonization, extraction, rebellion, myth, beauty, and land.
Betsy Gaines Quammen voted Bozeman’s Favorite Local Author
+
True West voted Bozeman's Best Local Book
Now Available
Now Available
“In telling the stories that comprise True West, Betsy Gaines Quammen reminds us that in order to keep this fractured country together we must meet our fellow Americans where they are, on their own terms.”
—Beto O’Rourke, author of We’ve Got to Try
“People think they ‘know’ the West but they’re usually wrong. That’s because there’s no region of our country more steeped in fallacy, fake news, and fable. Betsy Gaines Quammen, a wry and wise observer, takes us on a ride across the modern West—and along the way, disentangles reality from centuries of myth and mystique.”
—Hampton Sides, New York Times bestselling author of Blood and Thunder
True West explores myths of the West and how, if left unexamined, they distort the realities of the present and exacerbate polarizations. These misperceptions about land, politics, liberty, and self-determination threaten the wellbeing of western communities overrun by newcomers seeking a dream—and the country, unless America recognizes the dangers of building a national identity on illusion. Gaines Quammen interrogates it all by listening, carefully, to people from varying political and cultural perspectives as she seeks to reconcile the deep anger and broad misunderstandings that linger amid myths that define and impede the West and America.
American Zion
Cliven Bundy, God and Public Lands in the West
What People Are Saying
“Betsy Gaines Quammen has taken a deep, fascinating dive into a uniquely American brand of religious zealotry that poses a grave threat to our national parks, wilderness areas, wildlife sanctuaries, and other public lands. American Zion provides essential background for anyone concerned about the future of open space in the western United States. It also happens to be a delight to read.”
—Jon Krakauer, author of Under the Banner of Heaven
On Regulations of Public Lands
Betsy Gaines Quammen, was The Community Library’s Jack Grove Writer-In-Residence in November 2021 in Ketchum, ID, working at the historic Ernest and Mary Hemingway House and Preserve. She gave a lecture at The Ketchum Community Library during her stay.