American West

Scholars Carol K. Coburn and Martha Smith write that nuns were an important part of westward expansion—and in Colorado, nuns quickly learned how to use their gender to their advantage.

In The Long Winter, often praised as Laura Ingalls Wilder’s greatest novel, the villain may be not the snow, but oppressive gender roles.

For Jim Rock, tin cans were as important as shards of ancient pottery. Each can told a story of nineteenth and twentieth century life in America.

How did Portland, Oregon become a hipster haven? While other cities declined in the 60s and 70s, Portland looked at what they did and planned the opposite.

It's been a terrible year for fires in California and elsewhere around the world. Because then it always is now in the age of megafires.

During the Cold War, both the West and East Germany film industries made popular westerns. Yes, westerns. What was that all about?

Gray wolves in Wyoming recently lost their protected status. What will become of a species burdened by myths about its "fierce and furious" nature?

“Buffalo Bill” Cody was among history’s most intriguing showmen, fascinating a nation with a show that helped weave the modern myth of the Wild West.

In a time filled with “alternative truths,” historian Marsha Weisiger argues for more sophisticated approaches to telling the history of the American West.

A look at how climate change and human influences are changing the dynamics of fire, and the landscape, in the American west.