029 - James Skillen - This Land is My Land

Writing Westward Podcast

A conversation with Dr. James R. Skillen about his book This Land is My Land: Rebellion in the West (Oxford University Press, 2020).

James R. Skillen is Associate Professor of Environmental Studies at Calvin University. His new book, This Land is My Land: Rebellion in the West was published in 2020 by Oxford University Press. Skillen is also author The Nation's Largest Landlord: The Bureau of Land Management in the American West (University of Kansas Press, 2009) and Federal Ecosystem Management: Its Rise, Fall, and Afterlife (Kansas University Press, 2015). Building on these previous works on the history of the federal land management in the West, Skillen has now turned his eye to understanding the recent politics of land management, how certain Westerners have resisted federal oversight and regulations, and how very regional Western debates over grazing permits and local control over land use have melded with national movements against the federal government and increasingly extremist and militant stands against supposed federal tyranny. The growing overlap between those protesting federal land management policies, so-called "patriot" groups, anti-government militias, extreme conspiracy theorists, and white nationalists makes understanding the historical context of their Western elements essential. Unfortunately, Skillen's book is timely and demands attention.

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Podcast Notes:

• Host and Producer Brenden W. Rensink is Associate Director of the Redd Center, an Associate Professor of History at BYU, General Editor of the Intermountain Histories project, and author of the 2018 book Native but Foreign: Indigenous Immigrants and Refugees in the North American Borderlands. Links to other publications and projects here: https://linktr.ee/bwrensink
• Support provided by the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University.
  
• Podcast Music was written and recorded by local Provo composer by Micah Dahl Anderson.
• Episodes are recorded via Skype or in person and amateurishly engineered and produced by Professor Rensink.
• To submit a book to be considered for a podcast episode, email [email protected].