10 Must-Read Books about the American West, with Mark Kenyon

Mark Kenyon is an author, podcaster, conservationist, and member of the MeatEater crew. You probably know him from his excellent book That Wild Country: An Epic Journey Through the Past, Present, and Future of America’s Public Lands, the Wired to Hunt podcast, or his contributions to MeatEater’s Netflix show and other video productions. To learn more about Mark and his impressive personal and professional journey, I’d encourage you to go back to our first Mountain & Prairie conversation from a few years ago, which is linked in the episode notes.

In this episode, Mark and I are doing something a little different: We’re focusing exclusively on books. Earlier this year, Mark had me on his podcast to discuss our favorite books about conservation, and we both received excellent feedback on that episode. You can find a link to that discussion in the notes. So we decided to have another book conversation, this time focusing on some of our favorite books about the American West. Both Mark and I are voracious readers who love share a love of history, conservation, and adventure, so I’m always excited to hear Mark’s recommendations and thoughts on a wide range of titles.

The episode starts out with a brief catch-up on Mark’s summer adventures and his current work with MeatEater, and then we dive into the books. We each picked five of our all-time favorites, and, as you’d expect, we veer off into other tangentially related titles and subjects. This is an episode where you’ll definitely want to check out the episode notes, because there are links to dozens of books, authors, films, and other resources. Mark and I could’ve easily talked for three or four hours, but we had to keep the conversation relatively short because of tight schedules. However, we’re going to try and make these book conversations a regular occurrence on both of our podcasts– so if you like this format, stay tuned for more!

If you haven’t already, I’d encourage you to check out Mark’s podcast or follow him on social media– he’s a smart, thoughtful, hard-working guy that brings tons of value to the world of conservation and outdoor recreation. Please enjoy the episode, and if you do, please share it with a few friends.

Mark’s Five Recommendations

Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

The Course of Empire by Bernard DeVoto

Dreams of Eldorado by H.W. Brands

The Oregon Trail by Rinker Buck

Great Plains by Ian Frasier

Ed’s Five Recommendations

Blood and Thunder by Hampton Sides

The Emerald Mile by Kevin Fedarko

Leave It As It Is by David Gessner

Bad Land by Jonathan Rabin

American Zion by Betsy Gaines Quammen

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Headshot courtesy of Mark Kenyon

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EPISODE NOTES

Topics Discussed:

Information Referenced:

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Enjoy this episode? Then you might like these too:

• Hampton Sides – Live at the Aspen Institute
• Betsy Gaines Quammen – A Fascinating History of Public Lands in the West
• David Gessner, Part 3 – A Confluence of Conservation Ideals
• Hal Herring – A Man of Words & Wild Places
• Heather Hansman – Demystifying Water in the West
• Sara Dant – A Deep Dive Into the History of the West
• Nate Schweber – A Forgotten Chapter of American Conservation
• Chris La Tray – Rediscovering His Past, Writing His Future
• Callan Wink – A New Voice for the New West
• Peter Heller – Chasing the Flow
• Chandra Brown – Fostering Creativity Through River Adventures

Visit the podcast page for a full list of episodes where you can filter episodes by topic and guests’ vocations.

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