He is the author of Cherokee Medicine, Colonial Germs: An Indigenous Nation’s Fight against Smallpox, 1518-1824 (University of Oklahoma Press, 2015), Epidemics and Enslavement; Cherokee Medicine, Colonial Germs; University of Nebraska Press, 2007), and Beyond Germs: Native Depopulation in North America, edited with Catherine Cameron and Alan Swedlund (University of Arizona Press, 2015), as well as numerous journal articles and book chapters. His major focus is on the biological processes involved in the European takeover of the Americas.  By placing humanity’s struggle with epidemics within the larger context of colonialism’s social disruption, structural violence, and political upheaval, Kelton’s work has implications for understanding the origins of global health disparities and for teaching valuable lessons regarding modern approaches to emerging infectious diseases.