American West

American West

episodes

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

Brent M. Rogers, "Buffalo Bill and the Mormons" (U Nebraska Press, 2024)

March 24, 2024

Buffalo Bill and the Mormons

Brent M. Rogers
Hosted by Joseph Stuart

In this never-before-told history of Buffalo Bill and the Mormons, Brent M. Rogers presents the intersections in the epic histories of William F. "Buf…

John William Nelson, "Muddy Ground: Native Peoples, Chicago's Portage, and the Transformation of a Continent" (UNC Press, 2023)

March 23, 2024

Muddy Ground

John William Nelson
Hosted by Stephen Hausmann

The birchbark canoe is among the most remarkable Indigenous technologies in North America, facilitating mobility throughout the watery world of the Gr…

Looking into the Heart of Arizona: A Discussion with Author Tom Zoellner

March 21, 2024

Looking into the Heart of Arizona

Tom Zoellner
Hosted by Paul Starobin

In Rim to River: Looking into the Heart of Arizona (University of Arizona Press, 2023), Tom Zoellner, a fifth-generation Arizonan, takes the reader on…

Amy Absher, "Fritzie: The Invented Life and Violent Murder of a Flapper" (U Oklahoma Press, 2023)

March 21, 2024

Fritzie

Amy Absher

One January day in 1923, a young boy came across the dead body of a twenty-year-old woman on a San Diego beach. When the police arrived on the scene, …

Christina Gish Hill et al., "National Parks, Native Sovereignty: Experiments in Collaboration" (U Oklahoma Press, 2024)

March 20, 2024

National Parks, Native Sovereignty

Christina Gish Hill, Matthew J. Hill, and Brooke Neely
Hosted by Stephen Hausmann

The history of Native people and the National Park Service in the United States is fraught. Dispossession, cultural insensitivity, and outright erasur…

Lisa Messeri, "In the Land of the Unreal: Virtual and Other Realities in Los Angeles" (Duke UP, 2024)

March 16, 2024

In the Land of the Unreal

Lisa Messeri
Hosted by Noopur Raval

In the mid-2010s, a passionate community of Los Angeles-based storytellers, media artists, and tech innovators formed around virtual reality (VR), bel…

Secret Harvests: A Hidden Story of Separation and the Resilience of a Family Farm

March 14, 2024

Secret Harvests

David Mas Masumoto

Today’s book is: Secret Harvests: A Hidden Story of Separation and the Resilience of a Family Farm (Red Hen Press, 2023), by David Mas Masumoto. In hi…

Sarah Keyes, "American Burial Ground: A New History of the Overland Trail" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2023)

February 25, 2024

American Burial Ground

Sarah Keyes
Hosted by Stephen Hausmann

The Overland Trail into the American West is one of the most culturally recognizable symbols of the American past: white covered wagons traversing the…

Laurence Ralph, "Sito: An American Teenager and the City That Failed Him" (Grand Central Publishing, 2023)

February 21, 2024

Sito

Laurence Ralph
Hosted by Reighan Gillam

In September of 2019, Luis Alberto Quiñonez—known as Sito— was shot to death as he sat in his car in the Mission District of San Francisco. He was nin…

Matthew C. Ward, "Making the Frontier Man: Violence, White Manhood, and Authority in the Early Western Backcountry" (U Pittsburgh Press, 2023)

February 18, 2024

Making the Frontier Man

Matthew C. Ward
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

For western colonists in the early American backcountry, disputes often ended in bloodshed and death. Making the Frontier Man: Violence, White Manhood…

William L. Bird, "In the Arms of Saguaros: Iconography of the Giant Cactus" (U Arizona Press, 2023)

February 3, 2024

In the Arms of Saguaros

William L. Bird
Hosted by Daniel Moran

An essential—and monumental—member of the Sonoran Desert ecosystem, the saguaro cactus has become the quintessential icon of the American West. In th…

Julia Ornelas-Higdon, "The Grapes of Conquest: Race, Labor, and the Industrialization of California Wine, 1769–1920" (U Nebraska Press, 2023)

February 3, 2024

The Grapes of Conquest

Julia Ornelas-Higdon
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

California’s wine country conjures images of pastoral vineyards and cellars lined with oak barrels. As a mainstay of the state’s economy, California w…

Marc Arsell Robinson, "Washington State Rising: Black Power on Campus in the Pacific Northwest" (NYU Press, 2023)

February 2, 2024

Washington State Rising

Marc Arsell Robinson
Hosted by Stephen Hausmann

In the late 1960s, as the United States was wracked by protests, assassinations, and political unrest, students in Washington State seized the moment.…

Maryam Kashani, "Medina by the Bay: Scenes of Muslim Study and Survival" (Duke UP, 2023)

January 31, 2024

Medina by the Bay

Maryam Kashani
Hosted by Najwa Mayer

From the Black Power movement and state surveillance to Silicon Valley and gentrification, Medina by the Bay: Scenes of Muslim Study and Survival (Duk…

Charlotte Coté, "A Drum in One Hand, a Sockeye in the Other: Stories of Indigenous Food Sovereignty from the Northwest Coast" (U Washington Press, 2022)

January 30, 2024

A Drum in One Hand, a Sockeye in the Other

Charlotte Coté
Hosted by Stephen Hausmann

Food is at the center of everything, writes University of Washington professor of American Indian Studies Charlotte Coté. In A Drum in One Hand, A Soc…

Paul Franke, "Feeling Lucky: The Production of Gambling Experiences in Monte Carlo and Las Vegas" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2023)

January 29, 2024

Feeling Lucky

Paul Franke
Hosted by Shu Wan

Monte Carlo and Las Vegas have become synonymous with casino gambling. Both destinations featured it as part of a broad variety of leisure and consump…

Damon Scott, "The City Aroused: Queer Places and Urban Redevelopment in Postwar San Francisco" (U Texas Press, 2024)

January 25, 2024

The City Aroused

Damon Scott
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

The City Aroused: Queer Places and Urban Redevelopment in Postwar San Francisco (University of Texas Press, 2024) by Dr. Damon Scott is a lively histo…

Darnise C. Martin, "Beyond Christianity: African Americans in a New Thought Church" (NYU Press, 2005)

January 11, 2024

Beyond Christianity

Darnise C. Martin
Hosted by Gregory Soden

Darnise C. Martin's Beyond Christianity: African Americans in a New Thought Church (NYU Press, 2005) draws on rich ethnographic work in a Religious Sc…

Robert Michael Morrissey, "People of the Ecotone: Environment and Indigenous Power at the Center of Early America" (U Washington Press, 2022)

January 10, 2024

People of the Ecotone

Robert Michael Morrissey
Hosted by Stephen Hausmann

By putting the Midwest at the center of Vast Early America, University of Illinois historian Robert Morrissey reconfigures the power dynamics in the s…

Susanna Phillips Newbury, "The Speculative City: Art, Real Estate, and the Making of Global Los Angeles" (U Minnesota Press, 2021)

January 4, 2024

The Speculative City

Susanna Phillips Newbury
Hosted by Bryan Toepfer

Underlying every great city is a rich and vibrant culture that shapes the texture of life within. In The Speculative City: Art, Real Estate, and the M…