Dan Flores


Dan Louie Flores is an American writer and historian who specializes in cultural and environmental studies of the American West. He held the A.B. Hammond Chair in Western History at the University of Montana in Missoula, Montana until he retired in May 2014.

Background

Dan Flores is a writer who lives in the Galisteo Valley outside Santa Fe, New Mexico, and is A. B. Hammond Professor Emeritus of Western History at the University of Montana-Missoula. Flores was born in Vivian in Caddo Parish in northwestern Louisiana and grew up in nearby Rodessa. During the 1970s, he received his MA in history from Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana, and his Ph.D. in 1978 from Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, where he studied under Professor Herbert H. Lang. He began his academic career at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, where he taught from 1978 to 1992, spent a year at the University of Wyoming in 1986, and then relocated to the University of Montana, where he held the A.B. Hammond Chair in Western History from 1992 until he retired in May 2014.

Works

Books

Flores is the author of ten books.
Flores' essays on the environment, art, and culture of the West have appeared in magazines such as Texas Monthly, Orion, Wild West, Southwest Art, The Big Sky Journal, New Mexico Magazine, and High Country News, and include:
Flores' work has received numerous accolades and awards including:
As a historian of place, Flores is "one of the best this country has produced," according to acclaimed author Annie Proulx. "His work ranks with that of Thoreau, William Bartram, Aldo Leopold, John Muir, Peter Matthiessen." Douglas Brinkley calls him "a master of the American West and a personal hero."
Flores' latest book, Coyote America, has been widely praised as "terrific," "fascinating," "absorbing," and "brilliant." Natural History proclaims "The coyote stories in this book are among the best, and Flores is a master storyteller."
Historian Elliott West has called Flores "one of the most respected environmental historians of his generation" and William Kittredge concurs, stating that Flores belongs in "the ranks of first-string Western American writers." "Engaging and provocative," "personal, passionate, and scholarly," Flores' work draws broad praise, including from author William deBuys, who calls Horizontal Yellow "one of the best books about place you'll ever read.".

Archives

Dan Flores' archives, research papers, and extensive photographs are housed in the Conservation Collection of the Western History and Genealogy Division of the Denver Public Library.