[1] Limerick is the daughter of Grant and Patricia Nelson and was born and raised in Banning, California.

Limerick is known for her 1987 book The Legacy of Conquest, which is part of a body of historical writing sometimes known as the New Western History.

Her essay on the Modoc War, titled "Haunted America" appears in the collection Ways of Reading, a textbook widely used by undergraduate English students.

Limerick was nominated by President Obama in spring 2015 and was confirmed by the United States Senate in November 2015.

In late September 2022, Glen Krutz, the new dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at CU Boulder, fired Limerick from her position as head of the Center of the American West.