Timothy Egan

Timothy Egan is an American author and journalist known for his deeply researched works on American history and the American West. A longtime contributor to The New York Times, he won the National Book Award for his history of the Dust Bowl. His writing often explores themes of environmental challenge, social justice, and the complex legacy of frontier expansion.

Early life and education

He was born in Seattle, Washington, and grew up in the Pacific Northwest, a region that would deeply influence his later work. Egan attended the University of Washington, where he studied journalism and began his writing career at the campus newspaper, The Daily of the University of Washington. After graduating, he worked for several years as a reporter for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, covering local politics and environmental issues in the Cascade Range.

Career

Egan joined the Pacific Northwest bureau of The New York Times in the 1980s, later becoming the paper's Rocky Mountains correspondent based in Denver, Colorado. He gained national recognition for his coverage of the Yellowstone fires of 1988 and the Waco siege. In 2001, he began writing the "Outposts" column for the paper's editorial page, focusing on the American West. His first major book, The Good Rain, examined the environmental and cultural history of the Pacific Northwest. He achieved critical acclaim with The Worst Hard Time, a chronicle of the Great Depression-era Dust Bowl that won the National Book Award for Nonfiction. Subsequent works include The Big Burn, about the massive 1910 fires in Idaho and Montana, and Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher, a biography of photographer Edward S. Curtis. His journalistic work for The New York Times on race in America was part of a team that won the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 2001.

Awards and honors

His most prestigious honor is the National Book Award for Nonfiction, which he received in 2006 for The Worst Hard Time. He was a key contributor to the The New York Times series "How Race Is Lived in America," which earned the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting. Egan has also been a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and has received the Washington State Book Award. He is a recipient of the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction and has been named a Guggenheim Fellow. His work has been supported by grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Personal life

He maintains a residence in Seattle, Washington, and often spends time in Montana. Egan is married and has children. An avid outdoorsman, his personal interests in fly fishing, hiking, and conservation are frequently reflected in his writing and public lectures. He serves on the board of the National Outdoor Leadership School and is involved with several historical preservation societies in the Pacific Northwest.

Selected works

* The Good Rain: Across Time and Terrain in the Pacific Northwest (1990) * Lasso the Wind: Away to the New West (1998) * The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl (2006) * The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire That Saved America (2009) * Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis (2012) * The Immortal Irishman: The Irish Revolutionary Who Became an American Hero (2016) * A Pilgrimage to Eternity: From Canterbury to Rome in Search of a Faith (2019)

Category:American non-fiction writers Category:American journalists Category:Pulitzer Prize winners Category:National Book Award winners