The 1936 public execution of a 22-year-old Black man, Bethea, convicted of the rape and robbery of a 70-year-old white woman. An estimated 10,000 to 20,000 spectators gathered around the wooden scaffold in a public courtyard. Widespread public disorder and criticism surrounding the spectacle led Kentucky (and other states) to ban public executions, making Bethea's hanging widely recognized as the last officially sanctioned public execution in the United States.

America’s Enlightenment Crisis

Recent events, including the proposal that the federal government live-stream the public execution of a convicted terrorist, are corroding our nation’s long enlightenment heritage.
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Clay in front of the historic Palais de la Légion d'Honneur, on the Left Bank of the River Seine in Paris, France.

Americans in Paris: Clay’s Thomas Jefferson in France Tour

This week, Clay has been leading his fourth Jefferson in France Cultural Tour. Thomas Jefferson served as an American minister to France in the late 1780’s and considered it some of the happiest times of his life.
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Crow Canyon Tour Announcement

Field Report: History and Current Challenges to Western Public Lands

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.
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Harper's Magazine cover, January 1947, featuring the title 'The West Against Itself' by Bernard Devoto (Vol. 194, No. 1160).

Where Is Bernard DeVoto When We Need Him?

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.
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American and European Bison.

Reporting From Switzerland: a Euro-Bison Comeback. Who Knew?

Iconic to the American West, I was surprised to learn of a British preservation program for European bison.
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Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin and her late husband Richard Goodwin. Her most recent book, An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s, offers a front-row seat to some of the most central events of 1960’s America.

An Extraordinary Couple and Their Front Row Seat to America’s Tumultuous 1960s

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.
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A Lament for the Snail-Mail Letter — A Great Technological Casualty?

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.
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The Beatles perform

In My Life: The Beatles and Global Connectivity

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.
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Outdoor garage sale setup on grass with a table of cookware, shoes on a rack, baskets, a vintage suitcase, and a 'GARAGE SALE' sign with an arrow.

The Grim and Goofy Anthropology of Garage Sales

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.
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canoes on the Upper Missouri River

White Cliffs of the Missouri River: Same Time Next Year!

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.
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