There are many myths about the American west. There’s the myth of bringing order out of a savage wasteland. The myth of disordered and uncivilized native Americans. The myth of the noble Caucasian cowboy. The myth of rugged individualists who wrested a living from the earth without help from anyone else. And the myth of women without agency who deferred to men. All of these are wrong. Yet they are remarkably sticky in American cultural consciousness according to historian Megan Kate Nelson. Nelson will speak at Illinois State University on March 19. Her talk How the Real West was Lost: The Frontier Myth and the Erasure of U.S. Western History is part of history department programming sponsored by the Sage Foundation. Nelson’s new book The Westerners: Mythmaking and Belonging on the American Frontier is out at the end of the month from Simon & Schuster.

There are many myths about the American west. There&rsquo;s the myth of bringing order out of a savage wasteland. The myth of disordered and uncivilized native Americans. The myth of the noble Caucasian cowboy. The myth of rugged individualists who wrested a living from the earth without help from anyone else. And the myth of women without agency who deferred to men. All of these are wrong. Yet they are remarkably sticky in American cultural consciousness according to historian Megan Kate Nelson. Nelson will speak at Illinois State University on March 19. Her talk How the Real West was Lost: The Frontier Myth and the Erasure of U.S. Western History is part of history department programming sponsored by the Sage Foundation. Nelson&rsquo;s new book The Westerners: Mythmaking and Belonging on the American Frontier&nbsp;is out at the end of the month from Simon &amp; Schuster.

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Sound Ideas is WGLT's signature local news series. Every weekday, WGLT reporters go beyond soundbites for deeper conversations with newsmakers, musicians, artists, and anyone with a story to share. New episodes air throughout the day on WGLT.

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WGLT's Sound Ideas is our flagship news program. Every weekday, WGLT reporters go beyond soundbites for deeper conversations with newsmakers, musicians, artists, and anyone with a story to share. This 30-minute newsmagazine is produced Monday through Friday. You can also subscribe to the Sound Ideas - Full Episodes podcast.

WGLT's Sound Ideas is our flagship news program. Every weekday, WGLT reporters go beyond soundbites for deeper conversations with newsmakers, musicians, artists, and anyone with a story to share. This 30-minute newsmagazine is produced Monday through Friday. You can also subscribe to the Sound Ideas - Full Episodes podcast.

Historian Megan Kate Nelson Interview

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/090e86c6-4ab6-4873-b560-afff01256522/clips/7520d916-23e8-4918-9076-b40600071ad2/transcript