I have been almost silent from the blog for the last week. The main reason is that I spent that whole week in the West. The proximate reason was to attend the Western History Association conference in
Dan Flores is an environmental and western historian who is also a fantastic writer. Most of his books have been about life and history on the southwestern Plains, especially west Texas, where he grew
This is the grave of John Jacob Astor. Johann Jakob Astor was born in 1763 in Walldorf, in what is today Germany. His family was skilled workers and that seemed where he was heading. He moved to Engla
The story of the Puget Sound orca carrying around her dead calf for over 2 weeks is incredibly sad and moved a lot of people. That pod of orcas, one of the defining animals of the Northwest, is in dan
Jennifer Graber’s new book is an outstanding look at the white conquest of the West, examined through the lens of the various religious ideas and traditions involved in the conflict. Focusing on
This is the grave of Doc Holliday. Born in 1851 in Griffin, Georgia, John Holliday grew up during the Civil War and then left for dentistry school in Pennsylvania in 1870. When he finished, he moved t
I hate these people so much. President Donald Trump sharply reduced the size of two national monuments in Utah on Monday by some two million acres, the largest rollback of federal land protection in t
I write from Helena, Montana, in a very brief return to civilization from days of camping and hiking in our nation’s most beautiful places, all of which are in the West, because let’s face