She is a fourth-generation Californian, born and raised in Pasadena. She holds an M.A. and Ph.D. from Stanford University, where she studied the history of the American West with Richard White. Her research has been supported by grants from the Mellon Foundation, the Huntington Library, Stanford University, Amherst College, and Reed College. She currently teaches courses on the nineteenth-century United States, the American West, and the environment.