Vaneesa Cook

Vaneesa Cook – Editor

A PhD historian offering editing and indexing. I am a scholar at your service with the skills of an editor and the mind of a historian.

Overview

Since graduating with a PhD in US history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2015, I have been editing for a variety of authors, including academics and fiction writers. I consider myself a "book whisperer" with the unique ability to understand the manuscript and develop it with the author. I can also organize a user-friendly index.


As a scholar at your service, with great attention to detail, I will help you craft a better draft and polish your book for publication.


I offer all the technical skills with the added benefit of a scholar's understanding of academic concepts and writing. I specialize in history, politics, and religion, but I've handled books in social science, cultural studies, literature, and philosophy. I also edit novels and memoirs regularly. I have written non-fiction and two novels, so I know the process first-hand.


I live in Wisconsin, enduring cold winters, but I love to travel, read, and watch movies to expand my horizons.

Services
Non-Fiction
Biographies & Memoirs History Philosophy Political Science & Current Affairs Religion & Spirituality Sociology
Fiction
Historical Fiction
Languages
English (AUS) English (UK) English (US)

Work experience

Society for Historians of Foreign Relations (SHAFR)

Oct, 2023 — Present

I edit articles for the SHAFR journal, Passport.

UW-Madison

Aug, 2019 — Jan, 2024 (over 4 years)

I taught a variety of courses for the history department at UW-Madison, as well as UW-Whitewater in the past fifteen years.

Self-employed

Apr, 2017 — Present

Editing and Indexing:

I offer the technical skills of an editor and indexer, but also a scholar's understanding of academic concepts and writing. I will help you craft a better draft and a user-friendly index.

Portfolio

American Nietzsche: A History of an Icon and His Ideas

Ratner-Rosenhagen, Jennifer

Developmental Editing Copy Editing Editorial Assessment Book Coaching
Karl Marx in America

Hartman, Andrew

University of Chicago Press

Indexing
Bombing to Provoke: Rockets, Missiles, and Drones as Instruments of Fear and Coercion

Sankaran, Jaganath

Oxford University Press

Indexing
Red Arrow across the Pacific: The Thirty-Second Infantry Division during World War II

Van Ells, Mark D.

Wisconsin Historical Society Press

Indexing
A Blueprint for Worker Solidarity: Class Politics and Community in Wisconsin (Working Class in American History)

Williams, Naomi R

University of Illinois Press

Developmental Editing Copy Editing Editorial Assessment Indexing Book Coaching
Spiritual Socialists: Religion and the American Left

Cook, Vaneesa

Developmental Editing Copy Editing Indexing
Deconstruction: An American Institution

Jones-Katz, Gregory

Developmental Editing Copy Editing Indexing
The Ideas That Made America: A Brief History

Ratner-Rosenhagen, Jennifer

Copy Editing Indexing
Contingent Faculty and the Remaking of Higher Education: A Labor History (Working Class in American History)

Fure-Slocum, Eric

Developmental Editing Copy Editing
Greatest Generation Comes Home: The Veteran In American Society (Williams-Ford Texas A&M University Military History Series Book 99)

Gambone, Michael D.

Developmental Editing Copy Editing Editorial Assessment
Occupied Territory: Policing Black Chicago from Red Summer to Black Power (Justice, Power, and Politics)

Balto, Simon

Indexing
Dispossession and Dissent: Immigrants and the Struggle for Housing in Madrid

Gonick, Sophie L.

Indexing
Cigarettes, Inc.: An Intimate History of Corporate Imperialism

Enstad, Nan

Developmental Editing Copy Editing Editorial Assessment Book Coaching
The Enlightenment and Original Sin (The Life of Ideas)

Kadane, Matthew

Indexing
I Fight for a Living: Boxing and the Battle for Black Manhood, 1880-1915 (Sport and Society)

Moore, Louis

Indexing
Smoothing the Jew: "Abie the Agent" and Ethnic Caricature in the Progressive Era

Marx, Jeffrey A.

Indexing
Prehistories of the War on Terror: A Critical Genealogy (Power, Politics, and the World)

Lee, A. J. Yumi

Indexing
Liberty's Surest Guardian: Rebuilding Nations After War from the Founders to Obama

Suri, Jeremi

Copy Editing
Covenant Brothers: Evangelicals, Jews, and U.S.-Israeli Relations

Hummel, Daniel G.

Developmental Editing Copy Editing Indexing
Patrick J. Lucey: A Lasting Legacy

Dresang, Dennis L.

Indexing
The Rise and Fall of Dispensationalism: How the Evangelical Battle over the End Times Shaped a Nation

Hummel, Daniel G.

Indexing
Neoliberal Cities: The Remaking of Postwar Urban America (NYU Series in Social and Cultural Analysis Book 9)

Diamond, Andrew J.

Indexing
Bulls Markets: Chicago's Basketball Business and the New Inequality (Historical Studies of Urban America)

Dinces, Sean

Developmental Editing Copy Editing Editorial Assessment Indexing Book Coaching

Vaneesa has 5 reviews

Professionalism

Quality

Value

Responsiveness

Helen V.

Helen V.

Sep, 2024

Pinned
I've worked with professional editors for more than 40 years and feel I hit the jackpot with Vaneesa. She knows her history and her craft. Maybe most importantly, she communicates what needs fixing clearly and effectively. As a result of her comments, I've been able to make changes with ease and to good effect. I'm looking forward to working with Vaneesa on the next project; her feedback has ...
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Robert B.

Robert B.

Nov, 2024

Vaneesa Cook is an outstanding editor. She has helped me work through the challenges of transforming a history dissertation into a book manuscript I"m preparing to submit for publication by an academic press. Her thoughtful, critical feedback addressed several levels I needed to reshape and revise my manuscript. She provided very clear and specific recommendations for reformulating the man...
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Vaneesa C.
Thank you, Bob! It was a pleasure to work with you and learn about the medical profession in US history. I would love to work with you again! V.
Bill S.

Bill S.

Oct, 2024

Vanessa was very professional, and her ideas changed the trajectory of my book. It is now going in a better direction. Her insights are second to none. Her insights into what a book can be are a valuable asset. Bill
Cassidy K.

Cassidy K.

Oct, 2024

very thoughtful edit of my proposal
Sarane H.

Sarane H.

Aug, 2024

Vaneesa is a true professional. She delivered on time. She added value to the book with very useful and helpful suggestions. Her grasp of the English language treated all the fine grammatical errors mostly made by technical writers like myself. Thank You, Vaneesa.
Vaneesa C.
Thank you Sarane! It was a pleasure to edit your writing and work with an author as kind and ethical as you.

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