Dr.
Michael Amundson's dog Nellie -->
Professor of History
Email: Michael.Amundson@nau.edu
Office phone:
(928)
523-6331
Office BS 206
Website: jan.ucc.nau.edu/~maa8/
Research and Teaching Interests:
My research is on the Atomic Age in the American West. As a relatively new field, Atomic History incorporates all things nuclear including such fields as community, environmental, cultural, social, political, and scientific history. I am a co-editor of the Atomic History and Culture series with the University Press of Colorado. My most recent publications include a book on uranium mining towns in the West and an article on the Orphan Lode Uranium Mine in Grand Canyon National Park. My teaching areas of specialty are 19th and 20th century West, the Southwest, and Recent American History. I have also taught specialized courses within those fields including ones on Lewis and Clark, History of Photography, Atomic America, and the History of US Sports.
Courses Taught:
HIS 292: US Since 1865
HIS 299: History of US Sports
HIS 300W: Junior Level Writing Course on Lewis and Clark
HIS 394: Recent America
HIS 394ct: Recent America (on WebCT)
HIS 487: The Far Southwest
HIS 487ct: The Far Southwest (on WebCT)
HIS 488: Making of the American West
HIS 489: American West Transformed
HIS 498: Senior Seminar on History of US Sports
HIS 498: Senior Seminar on Atomic America
HIS 499: History of American Photography
HIS 592: Graduate Readings on the Far Southwest
HIS 592: Graduate Readings on the American West
HIS 692: Graduate Research Seminar on the American West
Recent Publications:
"Yellowcake to Singletrack: Culture, Community, and Identity in Moab, Utah," in Liza Nicholas, Elaine M. Bapis, and Thomas J. Harvey, Imagining the Big Open: Nature, Identity, and Play in the New West (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2003.
Yellowcake Towns: Uranium Mining Communities in the American West. Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2002.
"Mining the Grand Canyon to Save It: The Orphan Lode Uranium Mine and National Security," in the Western Historical Quarterly 32, No. 3 (Autumn 2001). Clicking on the title will take you to the article via the History Cooperative.
"The British at Big Horn: The Founding of an Elite Wyoming Community," Journal of the West, Vol. 40, No. 1 (Winter 2001): 49-55.
"Portrait of a Small Town: The Photographic Diary of Neligh's Emanuel Wolfe," Nebraska History, Vol. 79, No. 4 (Winter 1998):150-161.
"No Longer a Home on the Range: The Booms and Busts of a Wyoming Uranium Mining Town, 1958-1985," Western Historical Quarterly, Winter 1995, pp 483-505.
Recent book reviews:
Recent reviews have appeared in the Journal of American History, Agricultural History, Western Historical Quarterly, Journal of Arizona History, Nevada Historical Society Quarterly, and Montana: The Magazine of Western History.
Recent Professional Service:
Co-editor, Atomic History and Culture Series, University Press of Colorado
Speaker, Arizona Humanities Council's Speaker's Bureau
Editorial Board, Journal of Arizona History
Arizona Historical Conference Board
Mansucript Reviewer, University of Arizona Press