The ghosts of the uranium boom continue to haunt the land, water and people.
Books
Posted inAugust 1, 2021: A Mega-Dairy Comes to the Desert
Climate change is the ultimate neo-noir subject
The novel ‘Something New Under the Sun’ treats a smoke-filled Los Angeles as its own genre.
Posted inJuly 1, 2021: An Urban Greenspace Revolution
How will humans live through ecological collapse?
In ‘Believers,’ Lisa Wells profiles ordinary people who want to lead less destructive lives.
Posted inJuly 1, 2021: An Urban Greenspace Revolution
The incarcerated women battling wildfires
In ‘Breathing Fire,’ Jaime Lowe uncovers the benefits and drawbacks of California’s inmate fire program.
Posted inArticles
Five shots in Denver
In 2013, anti-gang activist Terrance Roberts shot a man in the Holly, a historically Black neighborhood in Denver. What really happened that night?
Posted inJune 1, 2021: Once and Future Fires
How Suzanne Simard changed our relationship to trees
In ‘Finding the Mother Tree,’ a maverick forest ecologist relates her scientific journey — one that follows in the footsteps of traditional Indigenous knowledge.
Posted inArticles
Where land use and landscape photography converge
A would-be museum exhibit, canceled due to COVID, is now collected in the book ‘American Geography: Photographs of Land Use from 1840 to the Present.’
Posted inJune 1, 2021: Once and Future Fires
The everyday violence of Indian Country’s ‘bordertowns’
In ‘Red Nation Rising,’ violence in the communities abutting reservations illuminates colonialism’s continued presence.
Posted inArticles
How activists fought Joe Arpaio’s immigration roundups
Latino-led opposition brought down the Maricopa County sheriff.
Posted inJune 1, 2021: Once and Future Fires
Species conservation is a human problem
Writer Michelle Nijhuis synthesizes the story of modern-day conservation in her new book ‘Beloved Beasts.’
Posted inMay 1, 2021: Beauty and Biodiversity in the Borderlands
The Colorado town that became a transgender haven
In ‘Going to Trinidad,’ histories illuminate — and obscure — the outcomes of gender transition.
Posted inArticles
Threatened species and how we might save them
Michelle Nijhuis details history’s successes as a road map for today’s conservationists in her new book ‘Beloved Beasts.’
Posted inApril 1, 2021: Holding Fast
Modern redemption in a small New Mexican town
Kirstin Valdez Quade’s debut novel depicts everyday Catholicism in a struggling family.
Posted inApril 1, 2021: Holding Fast
Across generations, Dakota women grow resilience
Diane Wilson’s new novel explores the relationship between seeds and humans, and how our survival and abundance are intertwined.
Posted inMarch 1, 2021: The Rough Road Ahead
All fracked up: A debut memoir wrestles with toxic masculinity in the oil fields
Michael Patrick F. Smith’s ‘The Good Hand’ offers sharp observations on North Dakota’s extraction industry.
Posted inFebruary 1, 2021: End of the Line
Finding meaning on Joan Didion’s frontier
With the release of a new collection, the 86-year-old author returns to her old work and a vast, complicated legacy.
Posted inFebruary 1, 2021: End of the Line
The lessons on storytelling that William Kittredge taught
The beloved teacher and writer was preoccupied with the particular.
Posted inJanuary 1, 2021: No Place Like Home
From boxes of memorabilia, sifting out a life
In her debut memoir, Danielle Geller researches her elusive mother — and the meaning of family.
Posted inJanuary 1, 2021: No Place Like Home
A high school football team’s wartime resistance
In ‘The Eagles of Heart Mountain,’ Bradford Pearson renders the lives of incarcerated Japanese Americans during World War II in three dimensions.
Posted inDecember 1, 2020: A Community Divided
Looking for fresh reads? Western authors weigh in.
Here are some books from 2020 you don’t want to miss this winter.