In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Megan Kate Nelson about the American West. They discuss the frontier myth, Sacajawea, shared history in the Southwest, Maria Gertrudis Barcelo and her wealth, Jim Beckwourth and shifting stories. They also talk about the 1862 Homestead Act, Ovando Hollister and his paradox, Chinese-American immigrants, Little Wolf, and many more topics.

Megan Kate Nelson is a writer and historian based in Boston, Massachusetts. She has written about US western history, the Civil War, and American culture for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Slate, Time, and Smithsonian Magazine. Nelson earned her BA in history and literature from Harvard University and her PhD in American studies from the University of Iowa. She is the author of many books, including her most recent, The Westerners: Mythmaking and Belonging on the American Frontier.

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