By Doug Fabrizio

Salt Lake City, UT – Monday we begin a week of Western history with the writer Hampton Sides. His book Blood and Thunder is about the epic conquest of the American West. It's a story with heroes and villains and at the center of it all is Kit Carson, the legendary trapper, scout and soldier. Doug talked to Sides about the conflict between Manifest Destiny and the actual lives of the people in the West. (Rebroadcast)

By Doug Fabrizio

Salt Lake City, UT – Wednesday on RadioWest a conversation with the writer Ron Powers. In his acclaimed biography of Mark Twain, Powers says that critics and biographers have rearranged and reconstructed the human character of Twain, so that his real voice and his real humor have gone missing. Powers talks about the Samuel Clemens he discovered and the contribution he made to the mythology of the American West. (Rebroadcast)

By Jennifer Napier-Pearce

Salt Lake City, UT – December is a month full of break-out-the-bubbly parties, loud family gatherings and general merriment. But for those who have lost a loved one, this time of year can be tough. KUER's Jennifer Napier-Pearce reports.

By Doug Fabrizio

Salt Lake City, UT – The topic for today's RadioWest is joy. The acclaimed writer Barbara Ehrenreich will be our guest to talk about a particular kind of joy - communal joy. The kind that's been expressed throughout the ages when large groups of people have gathered to feast and to dance. Ehrenreich found that dancing has been a critical part of the way humans evolved and thrived, but over time for various reasons we've resisted this part of our nature. But why? Her book is called Dancing in the Streets. (Rebroadcast)

By Doug Fabrizio

Salt Lake City, UT – This Christmas on RadioWest, we're giving you the gift of poetry. It's a reading by the poet Dylan Thomas of his classic work A Child's Christmas in Wales. There was an intensity to Thomas' lyricism that comes through in his nostalgic piece, and as the late Leslie Norris explained in 2001 - it contains the whole of Christmas somehow. We talked to Norris and to Utah's poet laureate Katharine Coles about the life and work of Dylan Thomas. (Rebroadcast)

By Doug Fabrizio

Salt Lake City, UT – Wednesday on RadioWest, a conversation with the Biblical scholar John Dominic Crossan about the first Christmas. He believes that over time the nativity story that appears in the Bible has been misread or overly sentimentalized. Crossan looks at the story in the context of history and explores not just what happened, but what the stories actually mean. (Rebroadcast)

By Doug Fabrizio

Salt Lake City, UT – "Cuddly as a Cactus" and "Charming as an Eel" hardly seem like descriptions of a beloved Christmas character, but fans of Dr. Seuss will immediately recognize the mean Mr. Grinch. From the 1957 children's book and the 1966 television adaptation, How the Grinch Stole Christmas is for many an integral part of the holiday season. Tuesday, we're talking about Dr. Seuss's tale and offering you a new reading by the actor Tobin Atkinson.

By Doug Fabrizio

Salt Lake City, UT – The financial journalist Robert Kuttner points out that Barack Obama faces "the greatest economic crisis since the one that greeted Franklin Roosevelt." Kuttner calls it Obama's challenge - but he also sees it as Obama's opportunity - an opportunity to restore a progressive, egalitarian and secure society. Monday, Kuttner talks to Doug about the new directions he says Obama will have to take to create real change.

By Doug Fabrizio

Salt Lake City, UT – Friday on RadioWest we're rebroadcasting our conversation about Asperger's syndrome. It's a kind of mild from of autism which is just now coming to be understood. Our guest is Tim Page, the Pulitzer Prize winning music critic for the Washington Post. It wasn't until the year 2000 that Page was told he had Asperger's. He said the diagnosis came as a relief. He was able to explain his life spent, he says, living along-side, but distinctly apart from the rest of humanity. (Rebroadcast)

By Dan Bammes