Historian & Writer

Betsy Gaines Quammen is a historian and award-winning writer. She is fascinated by how cultural views shape relationships to landscape—and she loves a good ghost story! Betsy received a PhD from Montana State University, where she studied religion, history, and the philosophy of science. Her dissertation focused on Mormon history and the roots of armed public land conflicts in the United States.

Betsy's work has appeared in the New York Times, New York Daily News, and the History News Network. She is the author of This Haunted Land, American Zion, and True West. She lives in Bozeman, Montana, with her husband, writer David Quammen, three big dogs, a sturdy cat, and a lanky rescue python.