• 068 - Holly Miowak Guise - Alaska Native Resilience: Voices from World War II
    Nov 4 2024

    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

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    1 hr and 13 mins
  • 067 - Brent M. Rogers - Buffalo Bill and the Mormons
    Oct 21 2024

    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

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    1 hr and 1 min
  • 066 - Zac Podmore - Life After Dead Pool: Lake Powell's Last Days and the Rebirth of the Colorado river
    Sep 6 2024

    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.
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    1 hr and 8 mins
  • 065 - Julie Carr - Mud, Blood, and Ghosts: Populism, Eugenics, and Spiritualism in the American West
    May 3 2024

    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, Berkeley are in creative writing, poetry, and English. She is the author of 16 books, many of which have won awards and honors. She has also published extensively in journals, poetry collections, popular outlets like The New Republic, High Country News, The Nation, and others. She has traveled extensively to give readings, is involved in multi-media projects, and is co-host and co-creator of the brand new podcast, Return the Key: Jewish Questions for Everyone.

    Podcast Notes:

    • Host and Producer Brenden W. Rensink is Associate Director of the Redd Center, an Associate 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.

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    1 hr
  • 064 - Lyndsie Bourgon - Tree Thieves: Crime and Survival in North America’s Woods
    Apr 5 2024

    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

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    59 mins
  • 063 - Andrew Curley - Carbon Sovereignty - Coal, Development, and Energy Transition in the Navajo Reservation
    Mar 1 2024

    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

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    58 mins
  • 062 - Peter Boag - Pioneering Death - The Violence of Boyhood in Turn-of-the-Century Oregon
    Feb 2 2024

    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

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    1 hr and 1 min
  • 061 - Navied Mahdavian - This Country: Searching for Home in Very Rural America
    Jan 26 2024

    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

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    1 hr