Dr. Tim McNeese, longtime professor of history at 菠萝视频, has been selected
as a recipient of the 2022 Nebraska Book Award in Nonfiction Biography Honor for his
recently published book, Time in the Wilderness: The Formative Years of John 鈥淏lackjack鈥� Pershing in the American
West. The Nebraska Center for the Book announced the winners of its annual awards earlier
this week.
鈥� 鈥淭his award is very affirming,鈥� says McNeese. 鈥淚t says someone else thinks my writing
is worthy of some sort of note.鈥�
The YU professor will receive his award at a ceremony held on October 22 at the Nebraska History Museum in Lincoln. The event is sponsored by the Nebraska Center for the Book, the Nebraska Library Commission, and the Nebraska History Museum. The Saturday afternoon event is free and open to the public.
鈥淚 think I had that base covered with the Pershing biography,鈥� says McNeese. 鈥淚鈥檓 a Nebraska author, the book was published by the University of Nebraska Press鈥檚 Potomac imprint, and was set partially in Nebraska, since Pershing taught at UNL for four years during the early 1890s. If there was going to be a Nebraska Book Award for anything I wrote, this was the book.鈥�
University of Nebraska Press editors informed McNeese in June they were submitting
his book as an entry in the competition.
鈥淚 was delighted to hear that the editors thought my book was worthy of the
competition,鈥� McNeese notes.
Time in the Wilderness represents the first full-length biography of General
Pershing published in more than forty years. McNeese limited the book鈥檚 coverage of
Pershing鈥檚 life to those decades preceding his military service during World War I
where he served as the commander of American Expeditionary Forces in Europe.
As McNeese explains: 鈥淭he book was designed to provide insight into how Pershing鈥檚
service in the Army out west, which began with his graduation from West Point in 1886,
helped prepare him for his ultimate assignment as leader of American forces in the
Great War.鈥� Pershing was stationed at various times as a cavalry officer in New Mexico,
Montana, South Dakota, Oklahoma, California, and Nebraska, where he served as commandant
of the cadet program. During his time at UNL he taught student and future Nebraska
author Willa Cather how to fence.
McNeese wrote the book during the spring of 2020 just at the height of the
Covid pandemic. When it came time to find a publisher, his wife, Beverly, suggested
the University of Nebraska Press.
鈥淭hings just fell into place for this book,鈥� says McNeese. 鈥淚鈥檓 glad we went
with the UNL Press.鈥�
Since writing Time in the Wilderness, McNeese has written another biography
with Nebraska connections. Titled William Henry Jackson鈥檚 Lens: How Yellowstone鈥檚
Famous Photographer Captured the American West, the book, still in process of publication,
focuses on the nineteenth-century photographer W. J. Jackson who took the first photographs
of many places in the West, including Yellowstone, the Tetons, Mesa Verde, the Garden
of the Gods, and the Mount of the Holy Cross in Colorado. That book is slated for
publication in 2023.
鈥淟ike Pershing, Jackson lived in Nebraska for several years,鈥� explains McNeese.
鈥淗e established an early photography studio in Omaha during the late 1860s where he
documented some of the local Native Americans and the advancement of the Union Pacific
Railroad line across the state and further west.鈥�
鈥�
McNeese has published many other books during his thirty years as a history
professor at 菠萝视频. He says receiving the Nebraska Book Award will stand
out as a highlight marking his writing career.