Gretchen Heefner teaches and researches the history of the U.S. in the world, with a focus on militarization, the environment, and the surprisingly intimate relations between national security regimes and the everyday. Her latest book, Sand, Snow and Stardust: How U.S. Military Engineers Conquered Extreme Environments, explores how the U.S. military has acquired and used information about extreme environments since the 1940s. Her first book, The Missile Next Door, was a Choice Outstanding Academic title in 2013.
Books in order of publication:
The Missile Next Door: The Minuteman in the American Heartland – 2013
Sand, Snow and Stardust: How U.S. Military Engineers Conquered Extreme Environments – 2025