Margaret Cheney (1921–2010) was an American nonfiction author and biographer.
Cheney was originally from Eugene, Oregon, where she was born in 1921. She was a student at the Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, and worked as an editor for the Associated Press. She died in 2010.
Selected works Her books include: A Brief History of the University of California (University of California, Berkeley, Office of University Relations, 1974; 2nd ed., with Patricia A. Pelfrey, University of California Press, 2004) Meanwhile Farm (Celestial Arts, 1975). The Co-Ed Killer: A Study of the Murders, Mutilations, and Matricide of Edmund Kemper III, on Edmund Kemper (Walker, 1976). Updated as Why?: The Serial Killer in America (R & E Publishers, 1992). Tesla: Man Out of Time (Prentice Hall, 1981), biography of inventor Nikola Tesla. Translated by Gregorio Cantera into Spanish as Nikola Tesla: El Genio al que Robaron la Luz (Turner, 2010). Tesla: Master of Lightning (Barnes & Noble Publishing, 1999, with Robert Uth). Midnight At Mabel's: The Mabel Mercer Story, biography of cabaret singer Mabel Mercer (New Voyage Publishing, 2000).
References Author biography from Why?: The Serial Killer in America
Review of A Brief History of the University of California: Christopher J. Lucas (Summer–Fall 2005), The Journal of San Diego History,
Review of Tesla: Master of Lightning: Marc J. Seifer (2003), Isis, ,
Reviews of Tesla: Man Out of Time: H. James Birx (1982), American Scientist, W. Bernard Carlson (1983), Technology and Culture, , David Solomon (March 1982), "Man of light", The Boston Phoenix.
Review of Nikola Tesla: El Genio al que Robaron la Luz: Victor Guijarro Mora (2010), "Nikola Tesla: un innovador", Revista de libros de la Fundación Caja Madrid,