I grew up in Willoughby , Ohio , an eastern suburb of Cleveland on the shore of Lake Erie . I received my B.A. in Political Science from Duke University in Durham , N.C. , in 1986. Before entering graduate school in 1990, I worked as a radio disc jockey, high school sports play-by-play announcer, newspaper reporter and photographer, public relations writer, and drummer. I earned my M.A. (1992) and Ph.D. (1997) at the University of Nebraska concentrating on the American West, Native American history, and environmental history. My teaching experience includes work at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, Concordia University ( Seward , Nebraska ), and the University of Nebraska at Kearney . At TCU I teach introductory U.S. history classes, history of the American West, American Environmental history, the Progressive Era, and Indians of the United States . My first book, God's Country, Uncle Sam's Land: Faith and Conflict in the American West ( University of Illinois Press ) came out in 2006 and my other publications include articles on environmental history, American Indian history, and U.S. religious history published in Western Historical Quarterly , Great Plains Quarterly , American Journalism , and Nebraska History . In my spare time I enjoy sports, especially triathlon and basketball, and music.

Vist Dr. Kerstetter's Website: http://personal.tcu.edu/~tkerstetter/