🚨New Episode Alert🚨 This month we talk w/ Prof. Emilie Connolly (Dept. of History @yale.edu) about their multiple-award-winning book, "Vested Interests: Trusteeship and Native Dispossession in the United States" (@princetonupress.bsky.social 2025) writingwestwardpodcast.podbean.com/e/089-emilie...

The Mormon History Association recently awarded the Redd Center a Thomas Alexander Special Citation in recognition of the Center’s 54 years of supporting the MHA/western history. Fun coincidence that it’s named in honor Tom, who has been associated w/ the Redd Center since its founding… 1/2

Our Fall 2026 Lectures: Follow the FB event pages for location/detail notifications later this summer. Oct 1 - Nicolas Rosenthal: Painting Native America: Indigenous Artists in the Twentieth Century Nov 12 - Flannery Burke: Men of Western Letters Back East www.facebook.com/pg/BYUReddCe...

🚨New Episode Alert🚨 A conversation with historian María E. Montoya (@memontoya.bsky.social @nyu.edu) about her new book, "A Workplace of Their Own: Rockefeller, Roche, and Labor's Battle Over Industrial Democracy" (@academic.oup.com 2026). writingwestwardpodcast.podbean.com/e/088-maria-...

🚨New Episode Alert🚨 On LA surf culture history w/ Prof. Elsa Devienne (@elsadevienne.bsky.social @northumbriahistory.bsky.social) & her award-winning "Sand Rush: The Revival of the Beach in Twentieth-Century Los Angeles" (@academic.oup.com 2024). writingwestwardpodcast.podbean.com/e/087-elsa-d...

The latest (Redd Center-supported) work from Fred Woods, a documentary on the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Denver, is now viewable on BYU TV. It even features our own Redd Center Director Jay Buckley! www.byutv.org/0ccba76e-251...

Denver Latter-day Saints and Their Neighbors - BYUtv

A historical documentary exploring what matters most to members of the Church in Denver, Colorado.

byutv.org

Congrats to our annual awards and grants winners! It was as competitive a field as ever and we're thrilled by the exciting work being proposed. See the full list at the link below. Please share and congratulate (& tag) any friends and colleagues you see! reddcenter.byu.edu/0000019d-cfe...

Word on the street is that Redd Center awards will be announced on Monday… *watch this feed*

🚨New Episode🚨 A conversation with BYU history prof. David-James Gonzales about his new book, "Breaking Down the Walls of Segregation: Mexican American Grassroots Politics and Civil Rights in Orange Country, California" (@academic.oup.com 2025). writingwestwardpodcast.podbean.com/e/085-david-...

Our awards portal had an error yesterday that closed it before the 11:59 PM deadline. We have opened it back up and will accept applications until noon tomorrow, Tuesday, March 16.

🚨EVENT TODAY at 11:00 MST🚨 ANDREW HUTTON will give our annual Annaley Naegle Redd Lecture & speak about his book, "The Undiscovered Country: Triumph, Tragedy, and the Shaping of the American West" (@duttonbooks.bsky.social/@penguinrandomhouse.bsky.social, 2025). www.youtube.com/byureddcente...

Paul Hutton - The Undiscovered Country: Triumph, Tragedy, and the Shaping of the American West

youtube.com

Less than 2 weeks left to apply for American West research and programming funding from the Redd Center! Please apply and SHARE SHARE SHARE!

BYU Redd Center for Western Studies@byureddcenter.bsky.social · 7mo ago

The annual BYU Redd Center funding season is here and we have INCREASED the $$$ amounts! PLEASE share this as broadly as possible. We accept applications from ANY discipline for projects focused on the intermountain states of AZ, CO, ID, MT, NV, NM, UT, & WY. tinyurl.com/2026ReddAwards

🚨New Episode Alert🚨 A conversation with writer George Frazier about grassland rivers, finding wild places, canoeing 1000s of miles, & his new book "Riverine Dreams: Away to the Glorious and Forgotten Grassland Rivers of America" (@uchicagopress.bsky.social 2025) www.podbean.com/ew/pb-t23g3-...

Exciting developments this AM: 1. A LEGITIMATE SNOW STORM!!! 2. @cetracey.bsky.social’s new @wwnorton.com book “Salt Lakes: An Unnatural History” arrived in the mail! (Tracey worked on it as visiting fellow 2 years ago here at the @byureddcenter.bsky.social) Woot woot!!! amzn.to/3ZIVaf0

BYU's Daily Universe student newspaper did a nice profile on the Writing Westward Podcast, featuring Rensink's "Don't Sound Stupid" reminder, & quotes from recent guests Martha Sandweiss & @neilmathison.bsky.social, & fellow BYU History Prof., @ccjones.bsky.social universe.byu.edu/campus/writi...

Writing Westward podcast tells stories of the North American West

Writing Westward is a podcast run by BYU professor Brenden W. Rensink. The podcast features authors and scholars who write about the North American West.

universe.byu.edu

A new 8-story tour on the Donner Party, researched and written by one of my Intermountain Histories project interns, Samuel Watson, is now available on the project website and mobile apps! www.intermountainhistories.org/tours/show/81

Tour | The Donner Party | Intermountain Histories

Perhaps the most infamous group of pioneers in American history, The Donner Party’s journey in 1846-47 has been firmly planted in Intermountain lore. Of all the emigrants who traveled the overland tra...

intermountainhistories.org

🚨New Episode Alert🚨 Kicking off Black History Month with Prof. Sara Gallagher (@sgallagher12.bsky.social) of Durham College and her book "Black Wests: Reshaping Race and Place in Popular Culture" (@oupress.bsky.social 2025). writingwestwardpodcast.podbean.com/e/083-sara-g...

Starting in 25 minutes! Come watch this short documentary and discussion about York, the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and Black experiences and belonging in the outdoors.

The annual BYU Redd Center funding season is here and we have INCREASED the $$$ amounts! PLEASE share this as broadly as possible. We accept applications from ANY discipline for projects focused on the intermountain states of AZ, CO, ID, MT, NV, NM, UT, & WY. tinyurl.com/2026ReddAwards

Today is our Western Studies luncheon. Our visiting scholar, Christy Spackman, is giving her end-of-the-semester lecture. She’s been researching “sweetness” in the context of LDS and Intermountain West food culture and history. (The wintry decorations are leftover from a previous college event)

New Intermountain Histories Tour with 6 stories about girlhood in the late-19th and early-20th century American West. www.intermountainhistories.org/tours/show/80

Tour | Girlhood in the Frontier West | Intermountain Histories

A collection of stories highlighting the experiences of girls in the late-19th and early-20th century American West

intermountainhistories.org

🚨New Episode Alert 🚨 Buckle your seat belts and enjoy our conversation with author Neil Mathison about his new book, "Airstream Country: A Geologic Journey Across the American West" (@unmpress.bsky.social, 2025). writingwestwardpodcast.podbean.com/e/081-neil-m...

The BYU College of Family, Home, & Social Sciences includes the podcast in an article for their annual Connections Magazine. The back cover has a picture of @brendenwrensink.bsky.social with the piles of books whose authors he has interviewed socialsciences.byu.edu/casting-scho...

Amy Kohout (Colorado College) is speaking in 10 minutes at 11:00 MST on her multiple-award-winning book, "Taking the Field: Soldiers, Nature, and Empire on the American Frontiers." Tune in to the live stream! www.youtube.com/BYUReddCente...

BYU Redd Center

Archived videos of lectures offered at the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University and episodes of our Writing Westward Podcast.

youtube.com

Streaming live now, Yolonda Youngs’ lecture on her award-winning book, “Framing Nature: Creating an American Icon at the Grand Canyon.” www.youtube.com/live/tptdxh-...

Yolonda Youngs - Framing Nature at the Grand Canyon: Creating an American Icon

YouTube video by BYU Redd Center

youtube.com

🚨New Episode Alert🚨 This month we chat with essayist, novelist, and Univ. of Montana environmental studies professor Mark Sundeen about his new essay collection, "Delusions + Grandeur: Dreamers of the New West" (@unmpress.bsky.social, 2025). writingwestwardpodcast.podbean.com/e/080-mark-s...

🚨New Episode Alert🚨 We're celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month via a conversation with Prof. Ernesto Sagás (Colorado State University, Ethnic Studies) about his new book, "Latino Colorado: The Struggle for Equality in the Centennial State. writingwestwardpodcast.podbean.com/e/079-ernest...

🚨New Episode Alert🚨 An exceptional conversation with historian & writer Adam M. Sowards (@adamsowards.net) about writing for western public audiences. LOTS to consider here for academic writers, grad students, and others. writingwestwardpodcast.podbean.com/e/078-adam-s...

078 - Adam Sowards - Taking Bearing and Being Historically Faithful in Public Writing | Writing Westward Podcast

A conversation with historian Adam M. Sowards about their weekly Taking Bearing essays series,  "Being Historically Faithful in Public" article, and broader work in public writing. Dr. Adam Sowards is an environmental historian and writer, specializing in public lands and conservation in the US West especially the Pacific Northwest. Much of his public writings can be accessed at adamsowards.net. Dr. Sowards earned his Ph.D. in History from Arizona State University and was professor of history from the University of Idaho 2003-2022. He is now retired with emeritus status and working as a freelance writer. His published books include the following (links to purchase here): Making America’s Public Lands: The Contested History of Conservation on Federal Lands. American Ways series, ed. John David Smith. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2022. An Open Pit Visible from the Moon: The Wilderness Act and the Fight to Protect Miners Ridge and the Public Interest. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2020. Editor. Idaho’s Place: A New History of the Gem State. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2014. The Environmental Justice: William O. Douglas and American Conservation. Corvallis: Oregon State University Press, 2009 United States West Coast: An Environmental History. Nature and Human Societies Series, ed. Mark Stoll. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2007.   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.  Theme music by Micah Dahl Anderson @ www.micahdahlanderson.com

writingwestwardpodcast.podbean.com

We are thrilled to have helped fund Robin Kimmerer's keynote address at the 17th Biennial Conference of Science & Management for the Colorado Plateau & Southwest Region this week at NAU. The live stream starts @ 7:00 PM (PST/AZ time) & will be viewable for 7 days: www.youtube.com/live/OmEtm-r...

Public Keynote Speaker: Robin Wall Kimmerer

YouTube video by Northern Arizona University

youtube.com

🚨New Episode Alert🚨 This month we talk about 19th-century photography & re-envisioning the West w/ Robert Sullivan & his book "Double Exposure: Resurveying the West with Timothy O'Sullivan, America's Most Mysterious War Photographer" (@fsgbooks.bsky.social 2024). www.podbean.com/eas/pb-38yuk...