American West

American West

episodes

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

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…

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…

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…

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…

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 …

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…

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…

Steven Watts, "Citizen Cowboy: Will Rogers and the American People" (Cambridge UP, 2024)

August 31, 2024

Citizen Cowboy

Steven Watts
Hosted by Mark Klobas

Citizen Cowboy: Will Rogers and the American People (Cambridge UP, 2024) is a probing biography of one of America's most influential cultural figures.…

Holly Miowak Guise, "Alaska Native Resilience: Voices from World War II" (U Washington Press, 2024)

August 27, 2024

Alaska Native Resilience

Holly Miowak Guise
Hosted by Stephen Hausmann

The Japanese invasion of the Aleutian Islands during World War II changed Alaska, serving as justification for a large American military presence acro…

Damaging Rationality: Exxon-Funded Legal Research and the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

August 25, 2024

Damaging Rationality: Exxon-Funded Legal Research and the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

Hosted by Gordon Katic

This is part #3 of a the (ir)Rational Alaskans, a Cited Podcast mini-series that re-examines the legacy of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. In the last e…

James Barrera, "'We Want Better Education!': The 1960s Chicano Student Movement, School Walkouts, and the Quest for Educational Reform in South Texas" (Texas A&M UP, 2023)

August 25, 2024

'We Want Better Education!'

James Barrera
Hosted by Rameen Mohammed

In 'We Want Better Education!': The 1960s Chicano Student Movement, School Walkouts, and the Quest for Educational Reform in South Texas (Texas A&M UP…

Douglas K. Miller, "Indians on the Move: Native American Mobility and Urbanization in the Twentieth Century" (UNC Press, 2019)

August 24, 2024

Indians on the Move

Douglas K. Miller
Hosted by Ryan Tripp

In 1972, the Bureau of Indian Affairs terminated its twenty-year-old Voluntary Relocation Program, which encouraged the mass migration of roughly 100,…

Wesley G. Phelps, "Before Lawrence v. Texas: The Making of a Queer Social Movement" (U Texas Press, 2023)

August 24, 2024

Before Lawrence v. Texas

Wesley G. Phelps
Hosted by Stephen Hausmann

In 2003, in a ruling that bordered on poetic, Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in Lawrence v. Texas that sexual behavior between consenting…

Stephanie L Canizales, "Sin Padres, Ni Papeles: Unaccompanied Migrant Youth Coming of Age in the United States" (U California Press, 2024)

August 18, 2024

Sin Padres, Ni Papeles

Stephanie L Canizales
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Each year, thousands of youth endure harrowing unaccompanied and undocumented migrations across Central America and Mexico to the United States in pur…