Robert M. Utley is a writer and historian of the American West who served as the chief historian of the National Park Service. Utley has written more than a dozen books on the West, including Billy the Kid, Lone Star Justice, and Sitting Bull.

Historian Wilcomb E. Washburn served as curator of political history at the Smithsonian Institution and directed its American studies program. His six books include Red Man's Land, White Man's Law.