Writing Westward Podcast

A conversation with historian María E. Montoya about their book,  A Workplace of Their Own: Rockefeller, Roche, and Labor's Battle Over Industrial Democracy (Oxford University Press, 2026).   María E. Montoya is Professor of History at New York University and Global Network Professor at NYU Shanghai where she recently served as Dean of Arts and Sciences.   ----more----   The Writing Westward Podca...

A conversation with historian Elsa Devienne about their book, Sand Rush: The Revival of the Beach in Twentieth-Century Los Angeles  (Oxford University Press, 2024)   Elsa Devienne is Assistant Professor of History at Northumbria University.    Sand Rush was originally published in French by Éditions de la Sorbonne in 2020 as La ruée vers le sable: Une histoire environnementale des plages de Los An...

A conversation with journalist Jonathan Bach their book, " High Desert, Higher Costs: Bend and the Housing Crisis in the American West " (Oregon State University Press, 2025).   Jonathan Bach is a journalist and staff reporter covering housing and commercial real estate for The Oregonian/OregonLive.com.   ----more----   The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensin...

A conversation with historian David-James Gonzales about their book,  Breaking Down the Walls of Segregation: Mexican American Grassroots Politics and Civil Rights in Orange Country, California (Oxford University Press, 2025).   David-James Gonzales is Assistant Professor of History at Brigham Young University. He holds a BA in History from the University of California - San Diego, and n M.A. and...

A conversation with author George Frazier about their book " Riverine Dreams: Away to the Glorious and Forgotten Grassland Rivers of America " (University of Chicago Press, 2025).   George Frazier is Assistant Professor of Computer Information Science at Washburn University in Topeka Kansas. His previous book, The Last Wild Places of Kansas: Journeys into Hidden Landscapes (University of Kansas Pr...

A conversation with literary scholar Sara Gallagher about their book Black Wests: Reshaping Race and Place in Popular Culture (University of Oklahoma Press, 2025)   Sara Gallagher is Professor of Liberal Studies at Durham College in Ontario, Canada.   ----more---- The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brig...

A conversation with historian Martha A. Sandweiss about their book The Girl in the Middle: A Recovered History of the American West (Princeton University Press, 2025).   Martha A. Sandweiss is Professor Emerita of History from Princeton University. A historian of the American West and photography in particular, Sandweiss is the recipient of innumerable awards and honors, served as President of the...

A conversation with Neil Mathison about their book Airstream Country: A Geologic Journey Across the American West  (University of New Mexico Press, 2025)   Neil Mathison is an award-winning author based out of the Pacific Northwest. In addition to essays published in a wide variety of outlets, he is the author of two books:  Volcano: an A to Z and Other Essays About Geology, Geography, and Geo-Tra...

A conversation with Mark Sundeen about their book Delusions + Grandeur: Dreamers of the New West  (University of New Mexico Press, 2025)   Mark Sundeen is an award-winning novelist, essayist, and Associate Professor of Environmental Studies at the University of Montana . In addition articles for The New York Times Magazine, Outside Magazine, National Geographic Adventure, McSweeney's, and other ou...

A conversation with Ernesto Sagas about their book  Latino Colorado: The Struggle for Equality in the Centennial State (University Press of Colorado, 2025)   Ernesto Sagás is Professor of Ethnic Studies at Colorado State University. He is the author of an enormous body of scholarship, including articles and book chapters in a variety of disciplines, and 5 books:   Race and Politics in the Dominica...

A conversation with historian  Adam M. Sowards about their weekly  Taking Bearing essays series,  " Being Historically Faithful in Public " article, and broader work in public writing. Dr. Adam Sowards is an environmental historian and writer, specializing in public lands and conservation in the US West especially the Pacific Northwest. Much of his public writings can be accessed at adamsowards.ne...

A conversation with historian  Robert Sullivan  about their book Double Exposure: Resurveying the West with Timothy O'Sullivan, America's Most Mysterious War Photographer   (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2024)   Robert Sullivan is a writer and journalist who has written for The New Yorker, New York Times, Vogue, and A Public Space, among other outlets. He is a New York Times bestselling author multip...

A conversation with historian  Jason Heppler about their book Silicon Valley and the Environmental Inequalities of High-Tech Urbanism   (University of Oklahoma Press, Environment in Modern North America Series, 2024)     Dr. Jason A. Heppler is a historian and digital historian, currently working as Senior Developer at the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media and an adjunct professor of...

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 Universi...

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...

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 dir...

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...

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 hold...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 Bre...

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). Julie Carr is Professor of English at the University of Colorado, Boulder and Chair of the Department of Women and Gender Studies. Her training and degrees from Barnard College, NYU, and the University of California...

A conversation with journalist Lyndsie Bourgon about her book, Tree Thieves: Crime and Survival in North America's Woods (Little, Brown Spark, 2022). Lyndsie Bourgon is a journalist, author, oral historian, fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, and National Geographic Explorer. Her work intersects the environment, history, culture, identity, and more and has appeared in venues such as...