Access Utah

Before men ruled the earth, there were wolves.

There are many needs in our communities, and there are dedicated individuals and nonprofits working to meet those needs. They sometimes don’t get the recognition they deserve, and you may want to help but don’t know where and how. Next time on Access Utah we’re opening the phone lines, email and Twitter to give you the opportunity to spotlight a nonprofit or individual doing good in your community...

StoryCorps founder David Isay joins Tom Williams for Monday's Access Utah. David Isay is editor of several books from StoryCorps including “Listening Is an Act of Love.” He’ll talk about the power of listening and the importance of each life story. StoryCorps’ mission is to provide Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share, and preserve the stories of our lives...

In his memoir, “The Weight of Shadows,” José Orduña chronicles the process of becoming a North American citizen in a post-9/11 United States. Intractable realities—rooted in the continuity of US imperialism to globalism—form the landscape of Orduña’s daily experience, where the geopolitical meets the quotidian. In one anecdote, he recalls how the only apartment his parents could rent was one that...

How do you sum up a life? What do you include and what do you leave out? Heather Lende, author of the new book "Find the Good," is the obituary writer for the Chilkat Valley News in a beautiful but often dangerous spit of land in Alaska. She says "we are all writing our own obituary every day by how we live." Shanan Ballam, who teaches Creative Writing at Utah State University, wrote her brother D...

At its heart, it’s a battle for homeland and sovereignty. Bears Ears, a remote section of land characterized by its distinctive red cliffs and abundance of juniper and sage, is at the center of a fight over who has a say in how Western landscapes are protected and managed. “Battle Over Bears Ears,” a new documentary film, explores the deep connections to place and the vast cultural divides that ar...

The story of history is a ceaseless conversation between past and present In his new book “American Dialogue: The Founders and Us” Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Joseph Ellis focuses on the often-asked question “What would the Founding Fathers think?” He examines four of our most seminal historical figures through the prism of particular topics using the perspective of the present to shed light...

Growing up in a gang in the city can be dark. Growing up Native American in a gang in Chicago is a whole different story. This book takes a trip through that unexplored part of Indian Country, an intense journey that is full of surprises, shining a light on the interior lives of people whose intellectual and emotional concerns are often overlooked. This dark, compelling, occasionally inappropriate...

The midterm elections are (mostly) in the books. The Democrats took control of the U.S. House of Representatives and made some inroads in governorships and state legislatures. The Republicans expanded their majority in the U.S. Senate. In Utah, Mitt Romney became Senator-elect, the race for the 4th Congressional District is too close to call. Several of the Propositions on the ballot appear headed...

The King’s English Bookshop (TKE) has published a collection of Ann Cannon’s Salt Lake Tribune columns. It’s titled “I’ll Tell You What.” Ann Cannon joins us for the hour on Monday’s Access Utah.

“I’m a person who listens for a living. I listen for wisdom, and beauty, and for voices not shouting to be heard. This book chronicles some of what I’ve learned in what has become a conversation across time and generations, across disciplines and denominations.” That’s Krista Tippett, host of “On Being” (heard on UPR Sunday evenings at 5:00) talking about her new book “Becoming Wise: An Inquiry in...

Today we're previewing an upcoming concert, War and the Human Heart: Songs of Battle, Loss, and Love commemorating the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day and honoring veterans. We'll speak with Jeffrey Gettleman, an attorney in the Chicago area, who is the artistic director and producer of the concert. Our other guest is Craig Jessop, Music Director of the American Festival Chorus & Orchestra.

Record numbers of women are running for office and engaged in the political process this year. We’ll ask why? And is this temporary or a lasting trend? What will all this mean this year and going forward? As a part of the UPR Original Series, Utah Women 20/20, we’ll discuss these issues on Wednesday’s Access Utah. Our guests will include Patricia Jones, former state senator and current CEO of the...

"What a novel my life has been!" Napoleon once said of himself. Born into a poor family, the callow young man was, by twenty-six, an army general. Seduced by an older woman, his marriage transformed him into a galvanizing military commander. The Pope crowned him as Emperor of the French when he was only thirty-five. Within a few years, he became the effective master of Europe, his power unparallel...

Julia Gossard, assistant professor of history at Utah State University, says that since thousands of witch trials took place across Europe and North America, one stereotypical image of an early modern woman is that of a witch. Gossard teaches a class called “Witches, Workers, & Wives,” which examines attitudes, ideas, and stereotypes about gender, sexuality, and power - including how the witch bec...

War is not an abstraction. And the wounds of war don’t stop at the warrior. They reverberate through families and communities. The salient question remains “When does war end?” For veterans and their families and loved ones the answer is complex. “Between War & Here” is a new collaboration between journalists and musicians, exploring honor, courage, loss, and hope, with music, poetry, and memoir.

In his new book “Back Cast: Fly Fishing and Other Such Matters” Jeff Metcalf writes: “These waters have been my home, and I fish them more than most. In truth, they have saved my life on more than a few occasions. I seek refuge in the quiet solitude of rivers, and in dark hours of my life—including this particular year—I need desperately to be fly-fishing." Metcalf’s play “A Slight Discomfort,” is...

From Anne Lamott, the New York Times-bestselling author of Help, Thanks, Wow, comes the book we need from her now: How to bring hope back into our lives.

James A. McLaughlin grew up in rural Virginia and lives in the Wasatch Range east of Salt Lake City. His debut novel “Bearskin” is getting rave reviews. He joins us for the hour next time on Access Utah.

Rep. Mia Love says the Federal Election Commission has cleared her of illegal fundraising and that her challenger, Ben McAdams, is unethical and should withdraw from the race. Also, four women ask the Utah Supreme Court to assign a special prosecutor to sexual assault cases that the Salt Lake County District Attorney's office declined to pursue. And the story of an unsolved murder from 1978 shows...

Today on Access Utah, as a part of “Our Favorite Books” series, we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the publication of Willa Cather’s “My Antonia.” Tom Williams’ guests include Cather scholars and USU professors Evelyn Funda and Steve Shively. Funda says that “My Antonia” is fresh and contemporary and raises issues about immigration, assimilation, class and female power that resonate today. We a...

Scott Howell and Thomas Wright, co-chairs of the Utah Debate Commission will join me to talk about the debates, which are airing on Utah Public Radio, and the political climate in Utah and the nation as we head into the midterm elections, now less than three weeks away. Scott Howell is a former state senator and senate minority leader, and candidate for the U.S. Senate. Howell is CEO Howell Consul...

Religious courts in the Middle East had historically banned women from adjudicating domestic and family matters - in both the Shari'a courts of Islam and the Rabbinic courts of Judaism -until Kholoud Al-Faqih, dares to challenge that history. With the support of a progressive Sheik, Kholoud becomes the first woman judge with her appointment to a Palestinian Shari'a court in the West Bank, bringing...

On Monday's Access Utah, Jim DeFelice joins us to talk about his new book “West Like Lightning: The Brief Legendary Ride of the Pony Express."

For generations, the Wrights of southern Utah have raised cattle and world-champion saddle-bronc riders ― some call them the most successful rodeo family in history.