Margaret Cheney

Selected Works

Science / Invention
Tesla - Man Out of Time
Life of the 20th century's most brilliant inventor/scientist. Margaret Cheney is the only American author to have been awarded the Tesla Gold Medal of the Tesla Institute, the Tesla Museum, and the Serbian Academy of Science - in recognition of her classic biography, Tesla - Man Out of Time.
Tesla - Master of Lightning
Years in the making, this definitive biography presents important new materials: archival documents and photographs from the Tesla Museum in Belgrade, and excerpts from Tesla's Biography.
Music
Midnight at Mabel's - The Mabel Mercer Story
The fascinating story of the ultimate cabaret singer's rise to stardom.
Crime
Why: The Serial Killer in America
Edmund Kemper's madness reveals the elements that serial killers have in common.
Environmental
Meanwhile Farm
Margaret and her friend were ready for Meanwhile, but not quite prepared for it...

Margaret Cheney is the only American author to have been awarded the Tesla Gold Medal of the Tesla Institute, the Tesla Museum, and the Serbian Academy of Science - in recognition of her classic biography, Tesla - Man Out of Time

Margaret Cheney
Margaret Cheney is the author of two acclaimed biographies of the Serbo-American scientist Nikola Tesla, the first being TESLA – MAN OUT OF TIME (Simon & Schuster), a work in continuous publication for more than a quarter century. This 1981 Science Club Award winner continues to be translated into many foreign languages. It was followed in 1999 by TESLA – MASTER OF LIGHTNING, a rare photographic biography in collaboration with Tesla documentary film producer Robert Uth (Barnes & Noble). Cheney appeared as an authority on Tesla’s life in “Master of Lightning,” the Emmy Award-winning PBS documentary by Robert Uth based on this biography.

Tesla Sculpture by Merrily Tompkins, Photography by Jan Jacques
An author of wide-ranging interests, Margaret Cheney has most recently written the centennial biography, MIDNIGHT AT MABEL’S, a poignant account of the life of beloved cabaret singer/song stylist Mabel Mercer. She has also written on Mercer for the new American National Biography Series (Oxford University Press).

Cheney’s earlier nonfiction works, all currently in print, include: MEANWHILE FARM, an environmental book; WHY? SERIAL KILLING IN AMERICA; A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORMIA (University of California Press). Cheney has written on higher education for the Encyclopedia Britannica; her ecological writing has been anthologized by the Audubon Society, and her Middle Eastern culinary adventures in Gourmet Magazine. She has been interviewed about her books for radio and print media throughout the world.