Podcasts about western studies

A conversation with historian Coll Thrush about their book Wrecked: Unsettling Histories from the Graveyard of the Pacific (University of Washington Press, 2025) Coll Thrush is Professor of History and associate faculty in Critical Indigenous Studies at the University of British Columbia. He earned a B.A. from Fairhaven College at Western Washington University and PhD in History from the University of Washington. His first book, Native Seattle: Histories from the Crossing-Over Place (University of Washington Press, Weyerhauser Environmental Book Series, 2007) won the 2007 Washington State Book Award and came out in a 2nd edition in 2017. In 2011 Thrush and Colleen E. Boyd co-edited Phantom Past, Indigenous Presence: Native Ghosts in North American Culture and History (University of Nebraska Press, 2011). His next monograph was Indigenous London: Native Travelers at the Heart of Empire (Yale University Press, Henry Roe Cloud Series on American Indians and Modernity, 2016). Just last week, he published his new book Wrecked: Unsettling Histories from the Graveyard of the Pacific (University of Washington Press, Emil and Kathleen Sick Book Series in Western History and Biography, 2025).   The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University. Subscribe to the Writing Westward Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, and other podcast distribution apps and platforms. Follow the BYU Redd Center and the Writing Westward Podcast on Facebook, Bluesky, or X/Twitter, or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org.   Theme music by Micah Dahl Anderson @ www.micahdahlanderson.com

A conversation with scholar William Grady about their book Redrawing the Western: A History of American Comics and the Mythic West (University of Texas Press, 2024) Dr. William Grady is an independent scholar and library based in the United Kingdom in Manchester. He earned a PhD in English from the University of Dundee and a masters of research and bachelors of arts in film and media studies from Manchester Metropolitan University. He held a post-doctoral research post at the University of the Arts in London, and has taught courses on comics, media theory, and film history at the University of Dundee and Manchester Metropolitan University, where he now works as a collections librarian.     The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University. Subscribe to the Writing Westward Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, and other podcast distribution apps and platforms. Follow the BYU Redd Center and the Writing Westward Podcast on Facebook, Bluesky, or Twitter, or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org. Theme music by Micah Dahl Anderson @ www.micahdahlanderson.com

A conversation with urban planner and architectural historian James Michael Buckley about their book City of Wood: San Francisco and the Architecture of the Redwood Lumber Industry (University of Texas Press, 2024)   James Michael Buckley is an urban planner, recently retired from the University of Oregon where he was an associate professor and venerable chair in historic preservation, and the director of the historic preservation program in the School of Architecture and Environment. Previously, he held teaching positions at MIT, San Francisco State University, and the University of California Berkley, where he earned an MA in city and regional planning and a PhD in architecture. He also holds a BA in Art History and American Studies from Yale University.     The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University. Subscribe to the Writing Westward Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, and other podcast distribution apps and platforms. Follow the BYU Redd Center and the Writing Westward Podcast on Facebook, Bluesky, or Twitter, or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org. Theme music by Micah Dahl Anderson @ www.micahdahlanderson.com

A conversation with historian Amanda Van Lanen about their book The Washington Apple: Orchards and the Development of Industrial Agriculture (University of Oklahoma Press, 2022).   Amanda L. Van Lanen is Professor of History and Humanities Division Chair at Lewis-Clark State College. A historian of the American West, agriculture, and the environment, you can follow her regular blog posting about "cookbooks, stories, and recipes from the back of the fridge," at https://historyreheated.com/.     The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University. Subscribe to the Writing Westward Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, and other podcast distribution apps and platforms. Follow the BYU Redd Center and the Writing Westward Podcast on Facebook, Bluesky, or Twitter, or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org. Theme music by Micah Dahl Anderson @ www.micahdahlanderson.com

A conversation with historian John William Nelson about their book, Muddy Ground: Native Peoples, Chicago's Portage, and the Transformation of a Continent (University of North Carolina Press, 2023) John William Nelson is assistant professor of history at Texas Tech University, where he teaches courses on Colonial America, the American West, the Atlantic World, and Native American history. He holds a PhD in history from the University of Notre Dame. In addition to a couple book chapters in Routeledge anthologies, Nelson published award-winning articles in the Michigan Historical Review in 2019 and William and Mary Quarterly in 2021. His 2023 book that we discuss today, Muddy Ground: Native Peoples, Chicago's Portage, and the Transformation of a Continent (University of North Carolina Press, David J. Weber Series in the New Borderlands History Series, 2023). It won the 2024 W. Turrentine-Jackson Prize (Western History Association), 2024 Superior Achievement Award (Illinois State Historical Society), an Honorable Mention for the 2024 Jon Gjerde Book Award (Midwestern History Association), and was a Shortlist Award Recipient for the 2024 Pattis Family Foundation Chicago Book Award (The Newberry Library).     The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University. Subscribe to the Writing Westward Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, and other podcast distribution apps and platforms.   Follow the BYU Redd Center and the Writing Westward Podcast on Facebook, Bluesky, or Twitter/X, or get more information @ https://reddcenter.byu.edu and https://www.writingwestward.org.   Theme music by Micah Dahl Anderson @ www.micahdahlanderson.com

A conversation with journalist, author, and poet Samuel Western about his book, The Spirit of 1889: Restoring the Lost Promise of the High Plains and Northern Rockies (University Press of Kansas, 2024)   Samuel Western is a prolific journalist and writer of the American West. In addition to having taught various courses on Wyoming history and culture at the University of Wyoming in past years, he was a correspondent for the Economist for over 30 years, published in the Wall Street Journal, LIFE, Sports Illustrated, High Country News, Montana: the Magazine of Western History, and other outlets. Western won two Wyoming Literary Fellowships, once for poetry and once for fiction, and is the author of the book Pushed Off The Mountain, Sold Down the River; Wyoming's Search For Its Soul (Homestead Publishing, 2002), the prose poetry collection A Random Census of Souls (Daniel & Daniel Publishers, 2015), which was finalist for best poetry book 2010 by the High Plains Book Awards, the novel Canyons (Daniel & Daniel Publishers, 2015), which was also published in French in 2017, and most recently, the book The Spirit of 1889: Restoring the Lost Promise of the Great Plains and Northern Rockies (University Press of Kansas, 2024).   The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink (www.bwrensink.org) for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University and hosted by. Subscribe to the Writing Westward Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, and other podcast distribution apps and platforms. Follow the BYU Redd Center and the Writing Westward Podcast on Facebook or Twitter or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org. Theme music by Micah Dahl Anderson @ www.micahdahlanderson.com

A conversation with historian James Tejani about their book A Machine to Move Ocean and Earth: The Making of the Port of Los Angeles—and America (W. W. Norton, 2024) James Tejani is associate professor of history at California Polytechnic State University. He holds a BAs in history and political science from the University of California, San Diego, and a Ph.D. in History from Columbia University. His first book, A Machine to Move Ocean and Earth: The Making of the Port of Los Angeles—and America (W. W. Norton, 2024). A decade ago he published two articles from this project, both of which won awards. His Southern California Quarterly article, “Dredging the Future: The Destruction of Coastal Estuaries and the Creation of Metropolitan Los Angeles, 1858-1913,” won the Doyce B. Nunis Jr. Award from the Historical Society of Southern California and the Ray Allen Billington Prize from the Western History Association, and his Western Historical Quarterly article, “Harbor Lines: Connecting the Histories of Borderlands and Pacific Imperialism in the Making of the Port of Los Angeles, 1858-1908,” earned an honorable mention for the Alice Hamilton Prize from the American Society for Environmental History.   The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink (www.bwrensink.org) for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University (reddcenter.byu.edu). Subscribe to the Writing Westward Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, and other podcast distribution apps and platforms. Follow the BYU Redd Center and the Writing Westward Podcast on Facebook or Twitter or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org. Theme music by Micah Dahl Anderson @ www.micahdahlanderson.com

A conversation with historian Holly Miowak Guise about her book, Alaska Native Resilience: Voices from World War II (University of Washington Press, Indigenous Confluences Series, 2024).   Dr. Guise is Assistant Professor of History at the University of New Mexico and holds a BA in Native American Studies from Stanford University and an MA and PhD in History from Yale University. She is the author of multiple books chapters and a 2022 article in the WHQ, “Who is Doctor Bauer?: Rematriating a Censored Story on Internment, Wardship, and Sexual Violence in Wartime Alaska, 1941-1944, " which won the Western History Association's Arrell M. Gibson Award for the best essay of the year on the history of Native Americans, Jensen-Miller Award for the best article in the field of women and gender in the North American West, Vicki L. Ruiz Award for best article on race in the North American West, and Oscar O. Winther Award for best article published in the Western Historical Quarterly (2023), and the Western Association of Women Historians Judith Lee Ridge Prize for best article in the field of history (2024). In 2022 she received both an American Council of Learned Societies and Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship to aid in her research that culminated in her book. Check out the book's companion website, ww2alaska.com to sample some of the oral history interviews that formed a foundation for her work.   The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink (www.bwrensink.org) for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University and hosted by. Subscribe to the Writing Westward Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, and other podcast distribution apps and platforms. Follow the BYU Redd Center and the Writing Westward Podcast on Facebook or Twitter or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org. Theme music by Micah Dahl Anderson @ www.micahdahlanderson.com

A conversation with historian Brent M. Rogers their book Buffalo Bill and the Mormons (Bison Books / University of Nebraska Press, 2024). Brent M. Rogers is the Managing Historian of the LDS Church History Department in Salt Lake City. He holds a Ph.D. in history from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, an M.A. in Public History from the California State University - Sacramento, and BA in history from San Diego State University. One of his first publications, a 2014 Utah Historical Quarterly article on Mormons and Federal Indian Policy won the WHA's Arrington-Prucha Prize for the Best Article on the History of Religion in the West. His first book, Unpopular Sovereignty: Mormons and the Federal Management of Early Utah Territory (NU 2017) won the 2018 Best First Book Award from the Mormon History Association, 2018 Francis Armstrong Madsen Best Book Award from the Utah State Historical Society, and the Charles Redd Center Phi Alpha Theta Book Award for the Best Book on the American West. He has authored and edited numerous other pieces, book chapters, and volumes, and is an editor on 6 volumes of the Joseph Smith Papers, many of which have also won awards.   The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink (https://www.bwrensink.org) for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University (reddcenter.byu.edu). Subscribe to the Writing Westward Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, and other podcast distribution apps and platforms. Follow the BYU Redd Center and the Writing Westward Podcast on Facebook or Twitter or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org. Theme music by Micah Dahl Anderson @ www.micahdahlanderson.com

A conversation with journalist and author Zak Podmore about their book, Life After Dead Pool: Lake Powell's Last Days and the Rebirth of the Colorado River (Torrey House Press, 2024). In addition to stories for the Salt Lake Tribune, Podmore also published Confluence: Navigating the Personal & Political on Rivers of the New West (Torrey House Press, 2019). Podcast Notes: Host and Producer Brenden W. Rensink is Associate Director of the Redd Center, Professor of History at BYU, General Editor of the Intermountain Histories project, and author of the 2018 book Native but Foreign: Indigenous Immigrants and Refugees in the North American Borderlands. Support provided by the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University. Podcast Music was written and recorded by local Provo composer by Micah Dahl Anderson. Episodes are recorded via Skype or in person and amateurishly engineered and produced by Professor Rensink. To submit a book to be considered for a podcast episode, email writingwestwardpodcast@byu.edu.

A conversation with poet and author Julie Carr about their book, "Mud, Blood, and Ghosts: Populism, Eugenics, and Spiritualism in the American West" (University of Nebraska Press, 2023). The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink (www.bwrensink.org) for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University (reddcenter.byu.edu). Subscribe to the Writing Westward Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, and other podcast distribution apps and platforms. Follow the BYU Redd Center and the Writing Westward Podcast on Facebook or Twitter or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org. Theme music by Micah Dahl Anderson @ www.micahdahlanderson.com

A conversation with journalist Lyndsie Bourgon about her book, "Tree Thieves: Crime and Survival in North America's Woods" (Little, Brown Spark, 2022). The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink (www.bwrensink.org) for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University (reddcenter.byu.edu). Subscribe to the Writing Westward Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, and other podcast distribution apps and platforms. Follow the BYU Redd Center and the Writing Westward Podcast on Facebook or Twitter or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org. Theme music by Micah Dahl Anderson @ www.micahdahlanderson.com

A conversation with geographer Andrew Curley about his book, "Carbon Sovereignty - Coal, Development, and Energy Transition in the Navajo Reservation" (University of Arizona Press, 2023). The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink (www.bwrensink.org) for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University (reddcenter.byu.edu). Subscribe to the Writing Westward Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, and other podcast distribution apps and platforms. Follow the BYU Redd Center and the Writing Westward Podcast on Facebook or Twitter or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org. Theme music by Micah Dahl Anderson @ www.micahdahlanderson.com

A conversation with historian Peter Boag about their book "Pioneering Death: The Violence of Boyhood in Turn-of-the-Century Oregon" (University of Washington Press, 2022). The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink (www.bwrensink.org) for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University (reddcenter.byu.edu). Subscribe to the Writing Westward Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, and other podcast distribution apps and platforms. Follow the BYU Redd Center and the Writing Westward Podcast on Facebook or Twitter or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org. Theme music by Micah Dahl Anderson @ www.micahdahlanderson.com

A conversation with cartoonist Navied Mahdavian about his graphic novel memoir, "This Country: Searching for Home in (Very) Rural America" (Princeton Architectural Press, 2023). The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink (www.bwrensink.org) for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University (reddcenter.byu.edu). Subscribe to the Writing Westward Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, and other podcast distribution apps and platforms. Follow the BYU Redd Center and the Writing Westward Podcast on Facebook or Twitter or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org. Theme music by Micah Dahl Anderson @ www.micahdahlanderson.com

A conversation with historian Natalia Molina about their book "A Place at the Nayarit: How a Mexican Restaurant Nourished a Community" (University of California Press, 2022). The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink (www.bwrensink.org) for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University (reddcenter.byu.edu). Subscribe to the Writing Westward Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, and other podcast distribution apps and platforms. Follow the BYU Redd Center and the Writing Westward Podcast on Facebook or Twitter or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org. Theme music by Micah Dahl Anderson @ www.micahdahlanderson.com

In this edition of Madison Book Beat, host Andrew Thomas speaks with Tacey M. Atsitty about her poetry collection (At) Wrist, (2023, The University of Wisconsin Press Press).In a fever dream of metaphor and image, Atsitty explores themes of loss, romantic love, and faith. Drawing on the familiar poetic form of the sonnet, Atsitty demonstrates how vulnerability, nakedness, and risk are an essential part of the connections we build with others across time. Delicate and visceral, (At) Wrist is a collection which "amplifies silence, so you can hear/ every crunch or offering of self."Tacey M. Atsitty is of the Diné tribe and her clans are as follows: she is Tsénahabiłnii (Sleep Rock People) and born for Ta'neeszahnii (Tangle People). Her maternal grandfather is Tábąąhí (Water Edge People) and her paternal grandfather is Hashk'áánhadzóhí (Yucca Fruit Strung-Out-In-A-Line People) from Cove, AZ.She is the winner of the Wisconsin Brittingham Prize for Poetry and is a recipient of the Louis Owens Award, Truman Capote Creative Writing Fellowship, the Corson-Browning Poetry Prize, Morning Star Creative Writing Award, and the Philip Freund Prize. She holds bachelor's degrees from Brigham Young University and the Institute of American Indian Arts, and an MFA in Creative Writing from Cornell University. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in EPOCH, POETRY Magazine, Kenyon Review Online, Prairie Schooner, swamp pink, Literary Hub, New Poets of Native Nations, Leavings, and other publications. Her first book is Rain Scald (University of New Mexico Press, 2018). Her second book (At) Wrist is forthcoming (University of Wisconsin Press, 2023).She is the director of the Navajo Film Festival, a member of the Board of Directors for Lightscatter Press, a member of the Advisory Council for Brigham Young University's Charles Redd Center for Western Studies, and the founding member of the Advisory Board for the Intermountain All-Women Hoop Dance Competition.She is a PhD candidate in the Creative Writing Program at Florida State University, where she lives with her husband.Photo courtesy of University of Wisconsin Press

A conversation with Sarah Keyes about their book "American Burial Ground: A New History of the Overland Trail" (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2023). The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink (www.bwrensink.org) for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University and hosted by. Subscribe to the Writing Westward Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, and other podcast distribution apps and platforms. Follow the BYU Redd Center and the Writing Westward Podcast on Facebook or Twitter or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org. Theme music by Micah Dahl Anderson @ www.micahdahlanderson.com

A conversation with Heather Hansman about their book "Powder Days: Ski Bums, Ski Towns, and the Future of Chasing Snow" (Hanover Square Press, 2021). The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink (www.bwrensink.org) for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University and hosted by. Subscribe to the Writing Westward Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, and other podcast distribution apps and platforms. Follow the BYU Redd Center and the Writing Westward Podcast on Facebook or Twitter or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org. Theme music by Micah Dahl Anderson @ www.micahdahlanderson.com

A conversation with historian Molly P. Rozum about their new book, "Grasslands Grown: Creating Place on the U.S. Northern Plains and Canadian Prairies" (University of Nebraska Press & University of Manitoba Press, 2021). The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink (www.bwrensink.org) for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University and hosted by. Subscribe to the Writing Westward Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, and other podcast distribution apps and platforms. Follow the BYU Redd Center and the Writing Westward Podcast on Facebook or Twitter or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org. Theme music by Micah Dahl Anderson @ www.micahdahlanderson.com

In this Episode our resident composer introduces Brandon to Tone Poems with Richard Strauss's Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks. Sheet Music: http://en.instr.scorser.com/D/19118.htmlSheet Music and Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QV5r9KG1eycCenter for Western Studies: https://www.centerws.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is beauty something that you consider when you think about your family's educational goals? Today John Hodges, Director of the Center for Western Studies joins us to chat about why beauty should be a foundational aspect of education and how it can be seamlessly woven into academics.

A conversation with literary scholar Michael K. Johnson about their book, "Speculative Wests: Popular Representations of a Region and Genre" (University of Nebraska Press, 2023). The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink (www.bwrensink.org) for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University and hosted by. Subscribe to the Writing Westward Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, and other podcast distribution apps and platforms. Follow the BYU Redd Center and the Writing Westward Podcast on Facebook or Twitter or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org. Theme music by Micah Dahl Anderson @ www.micahdahlanderson.com

A conversation with geoscientist Ellen Wohl about their books, "Something Hidden in the Ranges: The Secret Life of Mountain Ecosystems" and "Dead Wood: The Afterlife of Trees" (Oregon State University Press, 2021 and 2022). The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink (www.bwrensink.org) for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University and hosted by. Subscribe to the Writing Westward Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, and other podcast distribution apps and platforms. Follow the BYU Redd Center and the Writing Westward Podcast on Facebook or Twitter or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org. Theme music by Micah Dahl Anderson @ www.micahdahlanderson.com

A conversation with Andrea Geiger about their new book, "Converging Empires, Citizens and Subjects in the North Pacific Borderlands, 1867-1945" (University of North Carolina Press, 2023). The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink (www.bwrensink.org) for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University and hosted by. Subscribe to the Writing Westward Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, and other podcast distribution apps and platforms. Follow the BYU Redd Center and the Writing Westward Podcast on Facebook or Twitter or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org. Theme music by Micah Dahl Anderson @ www.micahdahlanderson.com

A conversation with Melissa L. Sevigny about their book "Brave the Wild River: The Untold Story of Two Women who Mapped the Botany of the Grand Canyon" (W. W. Norton, 2023). The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink (www.bwrensink.org) for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University and hosted by. Subscribe to the Writing Westward Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, and other podcast distribution apps and platforms. Follow the BYU Redd Center and the Writing Westward Podcast on Facebook or Twitter or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org. Theme music by Micah Dahl Anderson @ www.micahdahlanderson.com

A conversation with Bryce Andrews about their book, "Holding Fire: A Reckoning with the American West" (Mariner Books, Harper Collins imprint, 2023). The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink (www.bwrensink.org) for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University and hosted by. Subscribe to the Writing Westward Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, and other podcast distribution apps and platforms. Follow the BYU Redd Center and the Writing Westward Podcast on Facebook or Twitter or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org. Theme music by Micah Dahl Anderson @ www.micahdahlanderson.com

A conversation with Craig Childs about their book, "Tracing Time: Seasons of Rock Art on the Colorado Plateau" (Torrey House Press, 2022). The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink (www.bwrensink.org) for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University and hosted by. Subscribe to the Writing Westward Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, and other podcast distribution apps and platforms. Follow the BYU Redd Center and the Writing Westward Podcast on Facebook or Twitter or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org. Theme music by Micah Dahl Anderson @ www.micahdahlanderson.com

A conversation with Anne F. Hyde about her book, "Born of Lakes and Plains, Mixed-Descent Peoples and the Making of the American West" (W. W. Norton, 2022). The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink (www.bwrensink.org) for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University and hosted by. Subscribe to the Writing Westward Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, and other podcast distribution apps and platforms. Follow the BYU Redd Center and the Writing Westward Podcast on Facebook or Twitter or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org. Theme music by Micah Dahl Anderson @ www.micahdahlanderson.com

A conversation with Timothy Paul Bowman about his book "You Will Never be One of Us: A Teacher, A Texas Town, and the Rural Roots of Radical Conservatism (University of Oklahoma Press, 2022). The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink (www.bwrensink.org) for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University and hosted by. Subscribe to the Writing Westward Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, and other podcast distribution apps and platforms. Follow the BYU Redd Center and the Writing Westward Podcast on Facebook or Twitter or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org. Theme music by Micah Dahl Anderson @ www.micahdahlanderson.com

John Hodges joins Brandon again for a new feature on music literacy. In this installment, he walks us through part of Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro". He takes into Mozart'sunique contributions to Opera.Glyndebourne 1973 performance:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IugFH6PxeMQ1994 Performance with English subtitleshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yy-DTtJ5q-AShawshank Redemption Scene:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bjqmg_7J53sCenter for Western Studies: https://www.centerws.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A conversation with Prof. Alaina E. Roberts about her book, "I've Been Here All the While - Black Freedom on Native Land" (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2021). The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink (www.bwrensink.org) for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University and hosted by. Subscribe to the Writing Westward Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, and other podcast distribution apps and platforms. Follow the BYU Redd Center and the Writing Westward Podcast on Facebook or Twitter or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org. Theme music by Micah Dahl Anderson @ www.micahdahlanderson.com

A conversation with Prof. Cameron Blevins about his recent book, "Paper Trails: The US Post and the Making of the American West" (Oxford University Press, 2021), and his associated digital history and mapping website, gossamernetwork.com. The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink (www.bwrensink.org) for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University and hosted by. Subscribe to the Writing Westward Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, and other podcast distribution apps and platforms. Follow the BYU Redd Center and the Writing Westward Podcast on Facebook or Twitter or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org. Theme music by Micah Dahl Anderson @ www.micahdahlanderson.com

A conversation with historian Kevin Waite about his award-winning book, "West of Slavery: The Southern Dream of a Transcontinental Empire" (University of North Carolina Press, 2021). The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink (www.bwrensink.org) for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University and hosted by. Subscribe to the Writing Westward Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, and other podcast distribution apps and platforms. Follow the BYU Redd Center and the Writing Westward Podcast on Facebook or Twitter or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org. Theme music by Micah Dahl Anderson @ www.micahdahlanderson.com

A conversation with Josh Garrett-Davis about his essay collection, "What is a Western? Region, Genre, Imagination" (University of Oklahoma Press, 2019). The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink (www.bwrensink.org) for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University and hosted by. Subscribe to the Writing Westward Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, and other podcast distribution apps and platforms. Follow the BYU Redd Center and the Writing Westward Podcast on Facebook or Twitter or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org. Theme music by Micah Dahl Anderson @ www.micahdahlanderson.com

A conversation with Robert Chaney about is book, "The Grizzly in the Driveway: The Return of Bears to a Crowded American West" (University of Washington Press, 2020). The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink (www.bwrensink.org) for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University and hosted by. Subscribe to the Writing Westward Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, and other podcast distribution apps and platforms. Follow the BYU Redd Center and the Writing Westward Podcast on Facebook or Twitter or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org. Theme music by Micah Dahl Anderson @ www.micahdahlanderson.com

In his National Conference Plenary, "There Are Worlds and There Are Worlds," John Hodges brought us into the interplay between the seen and the unseen. The topic was too rich for a single session, so Brandon sat down with him to dive deeper into the waters. You can find John's talk in which he takes the audience through the music of The Firebird as well as other conference audio at https://www.patreon.com/circeconferenceTo learn more about John's work at The Center for Western Studies please visit: https://www.centerws.com/. Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.

A conversation with historian Christian S. Harrison about his book, "All the Water the Law Allows: Las Vegas and Colorado River Politics" (University of Oklahoma Press, 2021). The Writing Westward Podcast is a production of the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University and hosted by Brenden W. Rensink. Subscribe to the Writing Westward Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, and other podcast distribution apps and platforms. Follow the BYU Redd Center and the Writing Westward Podcast on Facebook or Twitter or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org. Theme music by Micah Dahl Anderson @ www.micahdahlanderson.com

In this episode of History 605, I spoke with Roger Grant, a historian of the American railroad. Roger has had a long career teaching at Clemson University and has written several books. I spoke with him about his book, "Railroads and the American People," and his forthcoming essay on South Dakota's railroads with the Center for Western Studies. As Roger reminds us, "An idea is what an idea does," and the railroads were a practical idea that met a need — but also a source of great fascination with a profound influence on America. In this episode, you'll hear how the railroads shaped so much of South Dakota.

A conversation with Jon T. Coleman about his book, "Nature Shock: Getting Lost in America" (Yale University Press, 2020). The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink (www.bwrensink.org) for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University and hosted by. Subscribe to the Writing Westward Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, and other podcast distribution apps and platforms. Follow the BYU Redd Center and the Writing Westward Podcast on Facebook or Twitter or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org. Theme music by Micah Dahl Anderson @ www.micahdahlanderson.com

A conversation with Corinna Cook about her collection, "Leavetakings: Essays" (University of Alaska Press, 2020). The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink (www.bwrensink.org) for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University and hosted by. Subscribe to the Writing Westward Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, and other podcast distribution apps and platforms. Follow the BYU Redd Center and the Writing Westward Podcast on Facebook or Twitter or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org. Theme music by Micah Dahl Anderson @ www.micahdahlanderson.com

A conversation with Sarah Deutsch about her book, "Making a Modern U.S. West: The Contested Terrain of a Region and Its Borders, 1898-1940" (University of Nebraska Press, 2022). The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink (www.bwrensink.org) for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University and hosted by. Subscribe to the Writing Westward Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, and other podcast distribution apps and platforms. Follow the BYU Redd Center and the Writing Westward Podcast on Facebook or Twitter or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org. Theme music by Micah Dahl Anderson @ www.micahdahlanderson.com

A conversation with Sara Humphreys about her book, "Manifest Destiny 2.0: Genre Trouble in Game Worlds (University of Nebraska Press, 2021). The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink (www.bwrensink.org) for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University and hosted by. Subscribe to the Writing Westward Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, and other podcast distribution apps and platforms. Follow the BYU Redd Center and the Writing Westward Podcast on Facebook or Twitter or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org. Theme music by Micah Dahl Anderson @ www.micahdahlanderson.com

A conversation with James McGrath Morris about his new biography, "Tony Hillerman: A Life" (University of Oklahoma Press, 2021). The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink (www.bwrensink.org) for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University and hosted by. Subscribe to the Writing Westward Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, and other podcast distribution apps and platforms. Follow the BYU Redd Center and the Writing Westward Podcast on Facebook or Twitter or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org. Theme music by Micah Dahl Anderson @ www.micahdahlanderson.com

A conversation with Ryanne Pilgeram about her new book, "Pushed Out: Contested Development and Rural Gentrification in the US West," published by the University of Washington Press in 2021. The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink (www.bwrensink.org) for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University and hosted by. Subscribe to the Writing Westward Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, and other podcast distribution apps and platforms. Follow the BYU Redd Center and the Writing Westward Podcast on Facebook or Twitter or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org. Theme music by Micah Dahl Anderson @ www.micahdahlanderson.com

A conversation with Andrea Ross about her new book, Unnatural Selection: A Memoir of Adoption and Wilderness (CavanKerry Press, 2021). The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink (www.bwrensink.org) for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University and hosted by. Subscribe to the Writing Westward Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, and other podcast distribution apps and platforms. Follow the BYU Redd Center and the Writing Westward Podcast on Facebook or Twitter or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org. Theme music by Micah Dahl Anderson @ www.micahdahlanderson.com

Earlier in the week we checked in with the mayor of Sturgis ahead of the rally. Today we visit with Vermillion Mayor Kelsey Collier-Wise regarding COVID mitigations in her community as students return to the University of South Dakota. Jackelyn Severin reports for SDPB on current reading levels in South Dakota public schools and efforts to get students back on track. Drought transforms the soil and the lives of the people who work it, but it also transforms rivers, lakes, and ponds. Travis Entenman & Jay Gilbertson discuss the Big Sioux River and the ongoing impact of the drought. For this week's Poetry from Studio 47 Patrick Hicks features the work of Sharon Chmielarz. Norma Wilson received the 2020 Dakota Conference Award for Distinguished Contribution to the Preservation of the Cultural Heritage of the Norther Plains from the Augustana University's Center for Western Studies. She discusses her research on Native American poetry ahead of the annual Dakota Conference.

We preview the 81st Annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally with the city's mayor, Mark Carstensen. Are the Great Plains poised for another Dust Bowl? We talk with USD geologist Mark Sweeney about heatwaves, drought, and the new problems caused by modern irrigation. The U.S. labor market is shifting in significant ways. Morning Macro with Joe Santos takes a look at patterns in South Dakota and possible explanations for the flux. We take a moment for South Dakota history by remembering the trial of Jack McCall — the man who killed Wild Bill Hickock. 605 Magazine's Alana Snyder joins us to talk about her adventures in farming for the upcoming August magazine. The "Raising Up" art exhibition at the Center for Western Studies explores the art of agriculture and sustainability. The exhibit is a preview of the upcoming annual Dakota Conference.

A conversation with Erika Wolters and Brent Steel about their edited collection "The Environmental Politics & Policy of Western Public Lands" (Oregon State University Press, 2020). The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink (www.bwrensink.org) for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University and hosted by. Subscribe to the Writing Westward Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, and other podcast distribution apps and platforms. Follow the BYU Redd Center and the Writing Westward Podcast on Facebook or Twitter or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org. Theme music by Micah Dahl Anderson @ www.micahdahlanderson.comThe Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink (www.bwrensink.org) for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University and hosted by. Subscribe to the Writing Westward Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, and other podcast distribution apps and platforms. Follow the BYU Redd Center and the Writing Westward Podcast on Facebook or Twitter or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org. Theme music by Micah Dahl Anderson @ www.micahdahlanderson.com

Brenden Rensink, BYU historian and assistant director of the Charles Redd Center, talks about how his trail-running hobby influences his scholarship. Brenden W. Rensink (Ph.D., 2010) is the Assistant Director of the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies and an Assistant Professor of History at Brigham Young University. Rensink recently published the monograph book, Native but Foreign: Indigenous Immigrants and Refugees in the North American Borderlands (https://amzn.to/2llJTxJ) (Connecting the Greater West Series, Texas A&M University Press, 2018), co-editor of the forthcoming anthology, Essays on American Indian and Mormon History (University of Utah Press, 2019), co-editor of Documents Vol. 4, (https://amzn.to/2JZ3v6q) and Documents Vol. 6 (https://amzn.to/2DBhgrB) of the award-winning Joseph Smith Papers (https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/articles/awards) projects (Church Historians Press, 2016, 2017), co-author of the Historical Dictionary of the American Frontier (https://amzn.to/2FjmN83) (Rowman & Littlefield, 2015), and author multiple articles, book chapters, and reviews. (http://www.bwrensink.org/scholarship-publications/) Rensink helps manage events, programming, awards, and research at the BYU Redd Center. He also created and directs two ongoing public history initiatives for the Redd Center: serving as the Project Manager and General Editor of the Intermountain Histories (http://www.intermountainhistories.org/) digital public history project and as the Host and Producer of the Writing Westward Podcast. (http://reddcenter.byu.edu/pages/writing-westward-podcast) His current research projects include consulting with the Native American Rights Fund, editing a collection of essays on 21st Century West History, and a writing new cultural and environmental history monograph tracing experience in, perception of, and recreation in Western American wilderness landscapes. Jeff Nichols and Brent Olson co-direct the Institute for Mountain Research (http://mountainresearch.org) and our 2018-2019 Mountain Fellows are Katie Saad and Naomi Shapiro. Our theme song is “Home” by Pixie and the Partygrass Boys. (https://www.pixieandthepartygrassboys.com). As Naomi likes to say, “They are awesome and you should check them out.” Special Guest: Brenden Rensink.