Wallace Stegner made a name for himself writing about the place that shaped him: the Mountain West and the people there. Alex Beam’s biography tells the story.

Lots of people dream about leaving it all behind, but Maurice and Maralyn Bailey really did it. They bought a boat and set sail in June of 1972.

A lengthy chapter in the battle over Utah’s congressional boundaries came to a close yesterday when a judge chose a new congressional map for Utah. Judge Dianna M. Gibson’s ruling shakes up the state’s political landscape and likely its representation in Congress. We are joined by Sen. Scott Sandall, Salt Lake Tribune columnist Robert Gehrke and KUER reporter Martha Harris.

What happens when a progressive Hollywood filmmaker and a conservative congressman team up to document one of the most volatile chapters in American politics? We’re talking with Steve Pink — director of “Hot Tub Time Machine” — and former Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger about their unlikely collaboration and the film that emerged.

This week we spoke with Matt Whitaker about his film “Truth & Treason.” He’s coming back to talk more about the movie, as well as making it with Angel Studios.

During Hitler’s rise to power, a young Latter-day Saint named Helmuth Hübener dared to defy the regime. He was 17 years old when the authorities executed him for telling the truth. Filmmaker Matt Whittaker and scholar Alan Keele tell his story.

Mars isn’t just a modern-day obsession, because we earthlings were nuts for the Red Planet more than a century ago. David Baron’s new book tells the story.

When Brigham Young and the Mormons arrived in Utah in the mid-1800s, they encountered a Native American leader who already dominated the region. Wakara, a Timpanogos Ute, was a fierce warrior, prolific horse thief and merciless slave trader. In a new biography, the historian Max Perry Mueller argues Wakara should be considered one of the founding figures of the American West.

In 1954, photographers Ansel Adams and Dorothea Lange traveled to southern Utah to capture life in three Mormon towns — Gunlock, Toquerville and St. George. We’ll talk with art historian James Swensen about what their images reveal and how these communities have evolved since then.

New Age spirituality is everywhere these days, from tarot cards and crystals, astrology and energy healing. A new book traces the history of New Age movements.