American West

American West

episodes

Interviews with scholars of the American West about their new books.

Maria Angela Diaz, "A Continuous State of War: Empire Building and Race Making in the Civil War–Era Gulf South" (U Georgia Press, 2024)

November 30, 2024

A Continuous State of War

Maria Angela Diaz
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

From 1845 to 1865 the Gulf of Mexico was at the center of American expansion and southern imperialism. A Continuous State of War: Empire Building and …

Olivia Chilcote, "Unrecognized in California: Federal Acknowledgment and the San Luis Rey Band of Mission Indians" (U Washington Press, 2024)

November 30, 2024

Unrecognized in California

Olivia Chilcote
Hosted by Stephen Hausmann

California has more unrecognized Native tribes than any other state - what led to this strange state of affairs, and what does this mean in practice? …

Disabled Ecologies: Lessons From a Wounded Desert

November 27, 2024

Disabled Ecologies: Lessons From a Wounded Desert

Sunaura Tayler

Deep below the ground in Tucson, Arizona, lies an aquifer forever altered by the detritus of a postwar Superfund site. Disabled Ecologies: Lessons Fro…

W. Paul Reeve et al., "This Abominable Slavery: Race, Religion, and the Battle over Human Bondage in Antebellum Utah" (Oxford UP, 2024)

November 26, 2024

This Abominable Slavery

W. Paul Reeve, Christopher Rich, and LaJean Purcell Carruth
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

On July 22, 1847, a group of about forty refugees entered the Salt Lake Valley. Among them were three enslaved men, two of whom shared the religion, M…

Timothy E. Nelson, "Blackdom, New Mexico: The Significance of the Afro-Frontier, 1900-1930" (Texas Tech UP, 2023)

November 22, 2024

Blackdom, New Mexico

Timothy E. Nelson
Hosted by Stephen Hausmann

By most accounts, Blackdom, New Mexico existed from 1900-1930. However, as historian and artist Dr. Timothy Nelson argues in his new book, the Black c…

Without Parents or Papers: A Discussion with Stephanie L. Canizales

November 21, 2024

Without Parents or Papers

Stephanie L. Canizales

Today’s book is: Sin Padres, Ni Papeles: Unaccompanied Migrant Youth Coming of Age in the United States (U California Press, 2024), which explores how…

Andrew Stone Higgins, "Higher Education for All: Racial Inequality, Cold War Liberalism, and the California Master Plan" (UNC Press, 2023)

November 18, 2024

Higher Education for All

Andrew Stone Higgins
Hosted by Abigail Kahn

The 1960 California Master Plan for Higher Education remains to this day the largest and most ambitious attempt to provide free, universal college edu…

Michael J. Alarid, "Hispano Bastion: New Mexican Power in the Age of Manifest Destiny, 1837-1860" (U New Mexico Press, 2022)

October 19, 2024

Hispano Bastion

Michael J. Alarid
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In Hispano Bastion: New Mexican Power in the Age of Manifest Destiny, 1837-1860 (University of New Mexico Press, 2023), historian Dr. Michael J. Alar…

Reunited: Family Separation and Central American Youth Migration

October 17, 2024

Reunited: Family Separation and Central American Youth Migration

Ernesto Castañeda and Daniel Jenks

Today’s book is: Reunited: Family Separation and Central American Youth Migration (Russell Sage Foundation, 2024), by Dr. Ernesto Castañeda and Daniel…

Chris Benner and Manuel Pastor, "Charging Forward: Lithium Valley, Electric Vehicles, and a Just Future" (The New Press, 2024)

October 9, 2024

Charging Forward

Chris Benner and Manuel Pastor
Hosted by Stephen Pimpare

A clarion call for justice in the quest for clean energy. California’s Salton Sea region is home to some of the worst environmental health condition…

Yolonda Youngs, "Framing Nature: The Creation of an American Icon at the Grand Canyon" (U Nebraska Press, 2024)

October 9, 2024

Framing Nature

Yolonda Youngs
Hosted by Stephen Hausmann

Perhaps no American landscape is as iconic as the rainbow rocks of Arizona's Grand Canyon. Yet, as the geographer Yolonda Youngs argues, the Grand Can…

Iris Jamahl Dunkle, "Riding Like the Wind: The Life of Sanora Babb" (U California Press, 2024)

October 6, 2024

Riding Like the Wind

Iris Jamahl Dunkle
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In 1939, when John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath was published, it became an instant bestseller and a prevailing narrative in the nation's collectiv…

Israel G. Solares, "Underground Leviathan: Corporate Sovereignty and Mining in the Americas" (U Nevada Press, 2024)

October 5, 2024

Underground Leviathan

Israel G. Solares

Underground Leviathan: Corporate Sovereignty and Mining in the Americas (U Nevada Press, 2024) explores the emergence, dynamics, and lasting impacts o…

Eric Steven Zimmer, "Red Earth Nation: A History of the Meskwaki Settlement" (U Oklahoma Press, 2024)

October 5, 2024

Red Earth Nation

Eric Steven Zimmer
Hosted by Stephen Hausmann

In 1857, the Meskwaki Nation began the long process of piecing their homelands back together. After decades of war, dispossession, and removal at the …

Emily Carman, "Independent Stardom: Freelance Women in the Hollywood Studio System" (U Texas Press, 2016)

September 23, 2024

Independent Stardom

Emily Carman
Hosted by Pete Kunze

During the heyday of Hollywood’s studio system, stars were carefully cultivated and promoted, but at the price of their independence. This familiar na…

Amir Alexander, "Liberty's Grid: A Founding Father, a Mathematical Dreamland, and the Shaping of America" (U Chicago Press, 2024)

September 21, 2024

Liberty's Grid

Amir Alexander
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Seen from an airplane, much of the United States appears to be a gridded land of startling uniformity. Perpendicular streets and rectangular fields, a…

Immigration Realities: Challenging Common Misperceptions

September 19, 2024

Immigration Realities: Challenging Common Misperceptions

Ernesto Castañeda and Carina Cione

Today’s book is: Immigration Realities: Challenging Common Misperceptions (Columbia UP, 2024), by Ernesto Castaneda and Carina Cione, which is a pract…

Paul Peart-Smith, "Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz's Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States: A Graphic Interpretation" (Beacon Press, 2024)

September 15, 2024

Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz's Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States

Paul Peart-Smith
Hosted by Michael Vann

As the author of a graphic history, I loved chatting with Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz and Paul Peart-Smith about the graphic interpretation of An Indigenous …

Pamela Riney-Kehrberg, "When a Dream Dies: Agriculture, Iowa, and the Farm Crisis of the 1980s" (UP of Kansas, 2022)

September 13, 2024

When a Dream Dies

Pamela Riney-Kehrberg
Hosted by Stephen Hausmann

Unlike a flood or fire, a the Farming Crisis of the 1980s did not have a set beginning of ending. Rather, it was a rolling, often invisible, disaster …

Sarah Miller-Davenport, "Gateway State: Hawai’i and the Cultural Transformation of American Empire" (Princeton UP, 2019)

September 1, 2024

Gateway State

Sarah Miller-Davenport
Hosted by Zeb Larson

One of my talking points when hanging out with my fellow diplomatic historians is the painful absence of scholarship on Hawaii. Too many political his…