About this episode
The American West fascinates people from around the world, but there are many different kinds of iconic western stories. Author Dan Flores has spent a career writing about what he calls the Natural West, stories about nature, animals, and people that span thousands of years of time in the western half of America. Although we reflexively think of history in America as new, this first episode emphasizes the West's true age by focusing on the great Chacoan Empire of a thousand years ago and what happened among its refugees in the Southwest in the wake of Chaco’s collapse from environmental causes.
Thank you to our sponsor Velvet Buck.
Subscribe now wherever you listen to podcasts. YouTube, Spotify, Apple, iHeart, Pandora, Amazon.
MeatEater on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and Youtube Clips
Check out more MeatEater's American History audio originals "The Long Hunters" and "Mountain Men"
Subscribe to The MeatEater Podcast Network on YouTube
Shop MeatEater Merch
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Get every episode summarized
Each time The American West publishes, we email you a written briefing from the transcript — the topics, who appeared, and any specific claims, with the ad reads skipped.
Email me new episodesFree for 3 shows. No card needed.
Hosts & guests
No transcript yet
This episode has not been transcribed. Request it and it moves to the front of the queue.
More episodes
More from The American West
Introducing: Gunfighters, with Bryan Burrough
The American West
Ep. 42: Favorite Films About the West
The American West
Ep. 41: Favorite Books About the West
The American West
Ep. 40: Becoming Natives of Place in the American West
The American West