Western Edition

William Deverell hosts this podcast from the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West, and it brings genuine academic rigor to Western history without ever feeling like a lecture. Across five seasons and 37 episodes, each season tackles a single theme -- fire, L.A. Chinatown, memorialization, Pasadena history, and most recently, Western watersheds -- and examines it through multiple episodes and expert interviews. The current season, "Watersheds West," follows major river systems like the Snake River to explore how water has shaped settlement patterns, political boundaries, and environmental conflicts across the region. Previous seasons tackled equally ambitious subjects: the history of Chinatown neighborhoods that were demolished and rebuilt, the politics of which events get memorialized and which get erased, and how wildfire has transformed from a natural process into a recurring crisis. Episodes run 25 to 40 minutes and feature a mix of Deverell's narration and conversations with historians, community members, and researchers. The Huntington Library connection gives the show access to rare archives and collections that make certain episodes feel like audio museum exhibits. At a perfect 5.0 stars with 20 ratings, it's clearly resonating with listeners who want the American West treated as a subject for serious inquiry rather than entertainment. This is the most intellectually ambitious Western history podcast available, and it rewards listeners who stick with an entire season arc.