Listen to Owen Bennett-Jones discuss the future of opinion polls with Mark Pack

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American West
American West May 19, 2022

Frontier Religion

The Mormon-American Contest for the Meaning of America, 1857-1907

Konden Smith Hansen

Hosted by Brady McCartney
In Frontier Religion: The Mormon-American Contest for the Meaning of America, 1857-1907 (U Utah Press, 2019) Konden Smith Hansen examines the dramatic influence these perceptions of the frontier had on …

American West

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

Geography May 16, 2022

Pipeline Populism

Grassroots Environmentalism in the Twenty-First Century

Kai Bosworth

Hosted by Stentor Danielson
Stunning Indigenous resistance to the Keystone XL and the Dakota Access pipelines has made global headlines in recent years. Less remarked on are the crucial populist movements that have also …
American West May 12, 2022

Beneath the Backbone of the World

Blackfoot People and the North American Borderlands, 1720-1877

Ryan Hall

Hosted by Stephen Hausmann
No matter what people call them today the northwestern Great Plains have been and continue to be Blackfoot country, argues Colgate University assistant professor Ryan Hall in Beneath the Backbone of …
Anthropology May 11, 2022

Prophets and Ghosts

The Story of Salvage Anthropology

Samuel J. Redman

Hosted by Lukas Rieppel
Prophets and Ghosts: The Story of Salvage Anthropology (Harvard UP, 2021) is a searching account of nineteenth-century salvage anthropology, an effort to preserve the culture of “vanishing” Indigenous peoples through …
Native American Studies May 10, 2022

The Apache Diaspora

Four Centuries of Displacement and Survival

Paul Conrad

Hosted by Joaquín Rivaya-Martínez
In The Apache Diaspora: Four Centuries of Displacement and Survival (U Pennsylvania Press, 2021), Paul Conrad brings to life the stories of displaced Apaches and the kin from whom they were …
Latin American Studies May 9, 2022

Bad Mexicans

Race, Empire, and Revolution in the Borderlands

Kelly Lytle Hernández

Hosted by Ari Barbalat
Bad Mexicans: Race, Empire, and Revolution in the Borderlands (Norton, 2022)tells the dramatic story of the magonistas, the migrant rebels who sparked the 1910 Mexican Revolution from the United States …
American West May 6, 2022

Sky Rider

Park Van Tassel and the Rise of Ballooning in the West

Gary B. Fogel

Hosted by Troy Hallsell
With a reputation as the hot-air balloon capital of the world and the home of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, the southwestern desert city of Albuquerque frequently showcases the magic …
American West April 25, 2022

The Closet and the Cul-de-Sac

The Politics of Sexual Privacy in Northern California

Clayton Howard

Hosted by Stephen Hausmann
"I don't care what people do in their bedroom, but do they need to flaunt it?" This sentiment is a common refrain in American culture and politics when talking about …
American West April 22, 2022

Rodeo

An Animal History

Susan Nance

Hosted by Stephen Hausmann
Animals are both the focus of rodeo and its most invisible participants, argues University of Guelph history professor Susan Nance in Rodeo: An Animal History (U Oklahoma, 2020). Nance flips the usual …
On Religion April 18, 2022

The Buddha at the Bellagio

(Teaching) Religion in Sin City

Corey Landon Wozniak

Hosted by Gregory Soden
Today I talked to Corey Landon Wozniak about his Revealer article (2022) "The Buddha at the Bellagio: (Teaching) Religion in Sin City." As Wozniak points out, Las Vegas (for all that …
American West April 18, 2022

Born of Lakes and Plains

Mixed-Descent Peoples and the Making of the American West

Anne F. Hyde

Hosted by Andrew Graybill
Often overlooked, there is mixed blood at the heart of America. And at the heart of Native life for centuries there were complex households using intermarriage to link disparate communities …
Film April 8, 2022

Hollywood and Israel

A History

Tony Shaw and Giora Goodman

Hosted by Nathan Abrams
From Frank Sinatra’s early pro-Zionist rallying to Steven Spielberg’s present-day peacemaking, Hollywood has long enjoyed a “special relationship” with Israel. This book offers a groundbreaking account of this relationship, both …
Political Science April 7, 2022

Engineering Expansion

The U.S. Army and Economic Development, 1787-1860

William D. Adler

Hosted by Lilly Goren
Engineering Expansion: The U.S. Army and Economic Development, 1787-1860 (U Pennsylvania Press, 2021) threads together political science, history, economics, American political development, and administrative developments to understand the unique role …
American West March 28, 2022

The Life of the Afterlife in the Big Sky State

A History of Montana's Cemeteries

Ellen Baumler

Hosted by Troy Hallsell
The Life of the Afterlife in the Big Sky State: A History of Montana's Cemeteries (U Nebraska Press, 2021) is a groundbreaking history of death in Montana. It offers a …
American West March 23, 2022

Emerald Street

A History of Hip Hop in Seattle

Daudi Abe

Hosted by Stephen Hausmann
West Coast hip hop means much more than LA, argues Dr. Daudi Abe, a professor of humanities at Seattle Central College. In Emerald Street: A History of Hip Hop in Seattle (University of Washington Press …
General History March 18, 2022

Frontier Scots

Jenni Calder

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
Today there are up to 25 million Americans who claim to have Scottish heritage. Many of these people are the descendants of Scots who journeyed to America in the 19th …
Anthropology March 16, 2022

Herring and People of the North Pacific

Sustaining a Keystone Species

Thomas F. Thornton and Madonna L. Moss

Hosted by Adam Bobeck
Herring are vital to the productivity and health of marine systems, and socio-ecologically Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii) is one of the most important fish species in the Northern Hemisphere. Human …
Native American Studies March 9, 2022

We Are Not Animals

Indigenous Politics of Survival, Rebellion, and Reconstitution in Nineteenth-Century California

Martin Rizzo-Martinez

Hosted by Annabel LaBrecque
Josefa Velasquez lived a long and full life. When Josefa wasn't co-running a tamale factory and cantina just outside of Wastonville, she was hosting friends and family at her saloon …
American West March 7, 2022

Thunder in the West

The Life and Legends of Billy the Kid

Richard W. Etulain

Hosted by Stephen Hausmann
Henry McCarty, aka William H. Bonney, aka Billy the Kid, is one of the most well known figures from the American West. His short life made an outsized impact on American …
Recall This Book March 3, 2022

Land-Grab Universities

A Discussion with Robert Lee

Robert Lee

Hosted by Elizabeth Ferry and John Plotz
John and new Brandeis host Jerome Tharaud (author of Apocalyptic Geographies) learn exactly how the growth of America's public universities relied on shameful seizures of Native American land. Working with …