I am an environment and history writer and the editor of Appalachia journal, the nation’s longest running mountaineering journal published by the Appalachian Mountain Club.

My newest book is Going Over the Mountain: One Woman’s Journey from Follower to Solo Hiker and Back (Appalachian Mountain Club Books). It charts the course of my life through the lens of wilderness.

My book Libertarians on the Prairie: Laura Ingalls Wilder, Rose Wilder Lane, and the Making of the Little House Books (Arcade) traces the influence of the early libertarian political movement on the iconic children’s pioneer books.

I am working on a new book about the lives of smalltime farmers in New Jersey in the early 20th century.

I am a lecturer in the journalism department at the University of Connecticut. I live with my husband in Deep River, Connecticut. Our grown daughters live in California and Pennsylvania.