Writing Westward Podcast

A conversation with historian Michael W. Childers about their book, The Mountains Are Calling: Tourists and the Unmaking of Yosemite National Park (University of Nebraska Press, Environment and Region in the American West Series, 2026).

Michael W. Childers is Associate Professor of History at Colorado State University. He is also author of Colorado Powder Keg: Ski Resorts and the Environmental Movement (University Press of Kansas, 2012; 2nd edition, 2024).

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The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University. 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, Bluesky, or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org.

A conversation with historian Emilie Connolly about their book, Vested Interests: Trusteeship and Native Disposession in the United States (Princeton University Press, 2025). 

Emilie Connolly is Assistant Professor of History at Yale University. Vested Interests has been recognized with the following awards and honors:

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The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University. 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, Bluesky, or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org.

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.

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The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University. 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, Bluesky, or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org.

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 Angeles au XXe siècle. 

Along with numerous articles, Devienne is also co-editor or co-author of:

Below are links to an article and two podcast episodes that Devienne mentions towards the end of this episode:

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The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University. 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, Bluesky, or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org.

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.

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The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University. 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, Bluesky, or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org.

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 Ph.D in History from the University of Southern California. 

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The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University. 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, Bluesky, or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org.

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 Press, 2017) won the Ferguson Kansas History Book Award from the Kansas Authors Club, the Hamlin Garland Prize in Popular History from the Midwestern History Association, a Midwest Book Award from the Midwest Independent Publishers Association, and was named a Kansas Notable Book by the State Library of Kansas' Center for the Book.

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The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University. 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, Bluesky, or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org.

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.

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The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University. 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 Bluesky, or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org.

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 Society of American Historians and Western History Association, and was the founder of the Princeton and Slavery Project. In addition to an extensive record of articles, chapters, and sundry other publications, she is author or editor of 13 books, including:

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The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University. 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, Bluesky, or X/Twitter, or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org.

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-Travel in the American West (Bauhan Publishing, 2017)

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The Writing Westward Podcast is produced and hosted by Prof. Brenden W. Rensink for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University. 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, Bluesky, or X/Twitter, or get more information @ https://www.writingwestward.org.