The Modern West

By Wyoming Public Media

Society & Culture

What's The Modern West about?

The Modern West is a rich collection of news and cultural stories from the Mountain West. Features, interviews, oral history, readings, and more offer a snapshot of Western life.

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Episode 10: The Widower

12.20.2019

Bob was devastated when his wife died of cancer. He’d been her main caregiver, and afterward, he realized that now he had to face his old age alone. No kids, no family nearby. And living in the West, he started ...

The Modern West episodes:

12.20.2019 Episode 10: The Widower Bob was devastated when his wife died of cancer. He’d been her main caregiver, and afterward, he realized that now he had to face his old age alone. No kids, no family nearby. And living in the West, he started ...
12.05.2019 Episode 9: What You’re Missing About Coal Country Once upon a time, coal miners took pride in the hard work they did. But these days the coal industry is sluggish and miners are feeling left behind—even disrespected—by the world. What they want most now is to just figure ...
11.20.2019 Episode 8: The Man From Lodge Grass Quincy Dabney loved growing up in Lodge Grass on the Crow Reservation in Montana. But then, just like him, it started falling apart. Now Quincy is working to save the hometown that saved him. (more…)
11.13.2019 Episode 7: Bringing The Buffalo Home It’s been over a century since the U.S. government exterminated bison from the Great Plains as a way to win the war against the Native American tribes there. But now reservations across the West are working to bring them back. ...
11.06.2019 Episode 6: The Next Yellowstone Imagine Congress agreeing to create national forests and wildlife refuges these days. Probably wouldn’t happen. So when a billionaire realized a large swath of the Great Plains needed special protections he decided to do it himself, without the government’s help. ...
10.23.2019 Episode 5: Belonging Young people from Gen Z are moving to cities around the West. But in doing so, they’re also out-migrating from rural hometowns in places like Wyoming and New Mexico. Conversations between young people about why they leave and why they ...
10.09.2019 Episode 4: The Midwife Most births are uncomplicated. So in rural areas where hospitals are shutting down, women want to give birth at home. Now, states across the country are legalizing and regulating midwifery so they can. This is the story of one rural ...
10.01.2019 Episode 3: Adult-Onset Hunting The number of Americans hunting and fishing is declining, but women are bucking the trend. Host Melodie Edwards finds a sisterhood at an all-women hunting camp—and catches her first fish with her dad. (more…)
09.24.2019 Episode 2: Both/Neither The U.S. government only allows Native Americans to register with one tribe. But what happens when two tribes share one reservation for over a century? Two women grapple with how that affected their identity growing up. (more…)
09.17.2019 Episode 1: Carpetbagger You ask around, and people can’t agree on a quintessential Wyoming writer. And if you can’t identify the literature of a place, you can’t define the place. Authors including CJ Box and Craig Johnson weigh in. (more…)
08.21.2019 The Modern West: Season 1 Preview The Modern West is getting a reboot! New host, new theme music, and brand-new stories just for this podcast. Season 1 starts September 17.
08.21.2019 Season 1 Preview The Modern West is getting a reboot! New host, new theme music, and brand-new stories just for this podcast. Season 1 starts September 17. (more…)
07.16.2019 The Modern West 52: Gone Fishin' Nothing says summer like fishing.
07.02.2019 The Modern West 51: Remembering World War II A painting brings the attack on Pearl Harbor back to life, recalling the war years in Wyoming, and the story of a dramatic war-time prison break that only surfaced in recent years.
06.19.2019 The Modern West 50: Archaeology And Fossils, Part 2 Archaeologists are in a race against time to document some artifacts found in the Mountain West.
06.05.2019 The Modern West 49: Archaeology And Fossils, Part 1 How archaeologists are trying to track down the remaining pieces of a mammoth found in Wyoming.
05.22.2019 The Modern West 48: Zarif Khan Here's the story of an early 20 th century Pakistani immigrant who created a life in Wyoming and set the path for others to follow.
04.30.2019 The Modern West 47: Back In The Saddle It's horseracing season, but instead of thoroughbreds, meet America's original horse.
04.19.2019 The Modern West 46: Critters From the mighty moose to the tiny stone fly, scientists are learning more about the animals we live with in Wyoming. Meanwhile, in Idaho, a town is trying to get thousands of crows to move out of the neighborhood.
03.26.2019 The Modern West 45: Winning Winter Men and women skiers might race down the same mountain, but the prize money at the bottom isn’t necessarily the same. Plus, how ice climbing is warming to female climbers and a conversation with the women who made dog sled ...
03.12.2019 The Modern West 44: High Country, High Voices New York, Milan…Casper? Opera comes to Wyoming.
02.22.2019 The Modern West 43: Slippery Slope Ski season is upon us as the sport faces major changes: how climate change is affecting ski resorts and whether downhill skiing is turning into a sport reserved for the wealthy.
01.15.2019 The Modern West 42: 'We're Still Here, We're Not A Vanishing Race' How the University of Wyoming hopes to increase Native American student enrollment, and how public school curricula represent indigenous peoples.
12.14.2018 The Modern West 41: Climate Change Remains Contentious In The West As the urgency around climate change increases, here’s a look at how the West is reacting.
11.20.2018 The Modern West 40: More People, Less Affordable Housing The Mountain West's population boom is putting a squeeze on affordable housing. What's being done address the issue?
10.16.2018 The Modern West 39: The Fight For Land Conservation Are public lands meant to be used or protected?
09.19.2018 The Modern West 38: Grizzly Context and controversy surrounding the delisting of the Yellowstone grizzly bear and this fall's proposed hunt.
08.21.2018 The Modern West 37: "Whiskey's For Drinkin' And Water's For Fightin' Over" In the arid West, how do we manage the limited amount of water available to us? Exploring the complex issues of water…where it comes from, how it’s used, and who gets to use it.
08.21.2018 Spoken Words 24: John Hausdoerffer—Wildness: Relations Of People And Place In Wildness , John Hausdoerffer and his co-editor Gavin Van Horn bring together authors from a variety of landscapes, cultures, and backgrounds to share their stories of what “wildness” looks like when people take an active role in becoming co-creators ...
07.20.2018 The Modern West 36: Unexpected Migration As climate change warms the West, birds of prey are moving north. What happens when an apex predator leaves its native hunting grounds?
06.21.2018 The Modern West 35: Forgotten Women Of The West From washing the army’s clothes to solving murders, three authors tell the stories of strong Western women.
05.18.2018 The Modern West 34: From Fact To Fancy, How Native Americans Are Portrayed Nearly a quarter of Wyoming’s population is Native American. But how they are portrayed—by Natives and by whites—is complicated.
04.17.2018 The Modern West 33: Women In Wyoming, Part 2 More conversations from the series Women in Wyoming …about pushing boundaries and redefining what it means to live in the modern West. Featuring Neltje and Affie Ellis.
03.27.2018 The Modern West 32: Women In Wyoming, Part 1 Conversations from the series Women in Wyoming …about pushing boundaries and redefining what it means to live in the modern West. Featuring Nimi and Nina McConigley.
02.21.2018 The Modern West 31: Cleaning Up Coal, Folly Or The Future? Coal is cheap, abundant…and dirty. In a greening energy economy, is clean coal the answer?
12.19.2017 The Modern West 30: Melting And Migration This time, we visit melting ice fields, ask whether climate change is fueling summer fires, and step into the hooves of big animals as they migrate to winter ranges.
11.21.2017 The Modern West 29: Home On The Range There’s a reason the cowboy hat is a symbol of Wyoming: ranching is woven into the state’s cultural fabric. On this episode, we’ll take you out on the wide open Wyoming range.
10.17.2017 The Modern West 28: Tiny Town, Big Bands In the mid-20 th century, the little town of Elk Mountain, Wyoming drew crowds from miles and miles away to its summer dances on the bouncy floor at the Garden Spot Pavilion.
09.19.2017 The Modern West 27: Dark Side Of The Moon August’s total solar eclipse drew hundreds of thousands of people to Wyoming for a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
08.15.2017 The Modern West 26: Going To The Movies Wyoming is the setting for many a Western—even if the films aren’t shot on location. But even if big studios pass the state by, Wyomingites are making their own movies.
07.18.2017 The Modern West 25: Take A Trip On The Lincoln Highway The Lincoln Highway was the first road to run coast-to-coast. Join us for a road trip with stops at some of the quirkiest roadside attractions along Wyoming’s stretch of the highway.
06.20.2017 The Modern West 24: The Native West, Part 2 Part two of a two-part series on the Wind River Reservation, focusing on housing issues on the increasingly populated Wind River Reservation.
05.16.2017 The Modern West 23: The Native West, Part 1 Part one of two-part series , featuring stories that take us into the heart of the Wind River Reservation.
05.16.2017 The Modern West #23: The Native West, Part 1 Part one of two-part series, featuring stories that take us into the heart of the Wind River Reservation.
04.20.2017 The Modern West 22: Climate Change In A Fossil-Fuel State Wyoming’s economy revolves around energy production. But climate change raises questions about what role fossil fuels will play in the state’s future.
04.20.2017 The Modern West #22: Climate Change In A Fossil-Fuel State Wyoming’s economy revolves around energy production. But climate change raises questions about what role fossil fuels will play in the state’s future.
04.18.2017 The Modern West #22: Climate Change In A Fossil-Fuel State Wyoming’s economy revolves around energy production. But climate change raises questions about what role fossil fuels will play in the state’s future.
03.23.2017 The Modern West 21: Wyoming's Immigrants And Refugees Wyoming is home to many immigrants, migrants, and former refugees. It is the only state, however, without a refugee resettlement program. But the current political climate has immigrants questioning their place in Wyoming and the U.S.
03.23.2017 The Modern West #21: Wyoming's Immigrants And Refugees Wyoming is home to many immigrants, migrants, and former refugees. It is the only state, however, without a refugee resettlement program. But the current political climate has immigrants questioning their place in Wyoming and the U.S.
02.21.2017 The Modern West 20: U.S. Citizens Incarcerated In The West It’s the 75th anniversary of an executive order that incarcerated thousands of Japanese Americans in internment camps across the nation. This episode includes first-hand accounts from this era.

Older episodes

The Modern West

What's The Modern West about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

The Modern West episodes:

Episode 10: The Widower

Episode 9: What You’re Missing About Coal Country

Episode 8: The Man From Lodge Grass

Episode 7: Bringing The Buffalo Home

Episode 6: The Next Yellowstone

Episode 5: Belonging

Episode 4: The Midwife

Episode 3: Adult-Onset Hunting

Episode 2: Both/Neither

Episode 1: Carpetbagger

The Modern West: Season 1 Preview

Season 1 Preview

The Modern West 52: Gone Fishin'

The Modern West 51: Remembering World War II

The Modern West 50: Archaeology And Fossils, Part 2

The Modern West 49: Archaeology And Fossils, Part 1

The Modern West 48: Zarif Khan

The Modern West 47: Back In The Saddle

The Modern West 46: Critters

The Modern West 45: Winning Winter

The Modern West 44: High Country, High Voices

The Modern West 43: Slippery Slope

The Modern West 42: 'We're Still Here, We're Not A Vanishing Race'

The Modern West 41: Climate Change Remains Contentious In The West

The Modern West 40: More People, Less Affordable Housing

The Modern West 39: The Fight For Land Conservation

The Modern West 38: Grizzly

The Modern West 37: "Whiskey's For Drinkin' And Water's For Fightin' Over"

Spoken Words 24: John Hausdoerffer—Wildness: Relations Of People And Place

The Modern West 36: Unexpected Migration

The Modern West 35: Forgotten Women Of The West

The Modern West 34: From Fact To Fancy, How Native Americans Are Portrayed

The Modern West 33: Women In Wyoming, Part 2

The Modern West 32: Women In Wyoming, Part 1

The Modern West 31: Cleaning Up Coal, Folly Or The Future?

The Modern West 30: Melting And Migration

The Modern West 29: Home On The Range

The Modern West 28: Tiny Town, Big Bands

The Modern West 27: Dark Side Of The Moon

The Modern West 26: Going To The Movies

The Modern West 25: Take A Trip On The Lincoln Highway

The Modern West 24: The Native West, Part 2

The Modern West 23: The Native West, Part 1

The Modern West #23: The Native West, Part 1

The Modern West 22: Climate Change In A Fossil-Fuel State

The Modern West #22: Climate Change In A Fossil-Fuel State

The Modern West #22: Climate Change In A Fossil-Fuel State

The Modern West 21: Wyoming's Immigrants And Refugees

The Modern West #21: Wyoming's Immigrants And Refugees

The Modern West 20: U.S. Citizens Incarcerated In The West

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