Field Report: History and Current Challenges to Western Public Lands
Tuesday, September 22 2026
Alongside archaeologist Dr. Susan Ryan, Clay co-hosted a recent cultural tour of the Four Corners region to help guests get an “on-the-ground” look at the past and future of the National Monuments and Antiquities Act.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
Where Is Bernard DeVoto When We Need Him?
Tuesday, September 15 2026
Struck by the breathtaking speed of change in American life since World War II, Clay is writing a series of essays about what has transpired within a single humanities scholar’s lifetime. This week he writes about how our media channels shape our sense of history, current events, and national outlook.
- Published in Features
Reporting From Switzerland: a Euro-Bison Comeback. Who Knew?
Monday, September 07 2026
Iconic to the American West, I was surprised to learn of a British preservation program for European bison.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
An Extraordinary Couple and Their Front Row Seat to America’s Tumultuous 1960s
Tuesday, September 01 2026
Clay interviewed noted historian and author Doris Kearns Goodwin at the Vail Symposium on August 25, 2026, about her newest book, An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s.
- Published in Books
A Lament for the Snail-Mail Letter — A Great Technological Casualty?
Tuesday, August 25 2026
During my lifetime, I have witnessed the death of the letter. Future historians will have to sift through an infinite number of mostly inane cellphone texts, with little real revelation of the individuals and the periods they are studying.
- Published in Features
In My Life: The Beatles and Global Connectivity
Tuesday, August 18 2026
I tuned in, along with over 300 million others from around the globe, on that landmark day when popular music connected with the space age and changed the world forever.
- Published in Features
The Grim and Goofy Anthropology of Garage Sales
Tuesday, August 11 2026
There are between 6 and 9 million garage sales per year in the United States, approximately 165,000 per week, with total sales of $220 million annually. Such affairs seem especially popular here in North Dakota.
- Published in Features
White Cliffs of the Missouri River: Same Time Next Year!
Monday, August 03 2026
I’ve just wrapped up the 26th summer leading my Lewis and Clark cultural tour. Days canoeing remote sections of the Missouri River and hiking the Bitterroot Mountains in the footsteps of Lewis and Clark never fail to inspire in me the majesty and promise of America.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
A Review of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey
Monday, July 27 2026
I rushed from Missoula, Montana, to Billings the other day to see Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey at a modified limited IMAX theater. This was the same theater where I first saw Nolan’s Oppenheimer three years ago. Quick take: I liked Oppenheimer better, but read on ...
- Published in Features
A Plea for the Public Lands
Tuesday, July 21 2026
On July 13, 2026, President Trump issued orders reducing Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments for a second time. Grand Staircase-Escalante was reduced by approximately 1.69 million acres, representing a 90% reduction of the monument's land area, shrinking its total size from roughly 1.87 million acres to 181,541 acres. Bears Ears National Monument was reduced from 1.36 million acres to 121,100 acres.
- Published in Features