068 | The History of the American West with Patricia Nelson Limerick
Patricia (Patty) Nelson Limerick is a historian, author, lecturer, and teacher. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in American Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She also completed her Ph.D. in American Studies at Yale University, where she also taught as a graduate teaching assistant. She served as an assistant professor at Harvard University from 1980 until she joined the University of Colorado in 1984, where she currently serves as a professor of history. One of the leading historians of the American West, Patty was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 1995 and, in 2016, was appointed as the Colorado State Historian and to the National Council on the Humanities.
Patty joins me today to discuss the role of historians in solving contemporary issues. You’ll hear her recount her memories as a student at UCSC. You’ll learn about how she became the official “Fool” of the University of Colorado and her journey to becoming a historian. She also describes her efforts to help young historians reach a wider audience and underscores how the issues of the 19th century are still present in the modern world.
“The United States had chosen a different form of understanding its history: that it was a frontier of expanding opportunity and democracy.”
- Patricia Nelson Limerick
This week on Kathy Sullivan Explores:
● The conception of Patricia’s Limerick Pedestrian Diet piece
● Her life growing up in Banning, California
● Patty’s fondest memories of the University of California, Santa Cruz
● The Pass/Fail system at UCSC and the professors who influenced Patty
● Her journey to becoming a historian and the “Official Fool” of the University of Colorado
● The meaning and importance of the Shakespearean fool
● How Patty became one of the pioneering authors of the New American West
● Her road to teaching a Western American course at Harvard
● How she overcame her writer’s block while doing her dissertation
● Writing a book on the continuity of Western American history
● The three Cs of The Legacy of Conquest
● Founding the Center for the American West at the University of Colorado
● Applying history to contemporary issues
● How Patty is helping young historians reach a wider audience
Our Favorite Quotes:
● “History could be fully engaged as part of figuring out how we got into our conflicts and dilemmas and thinking better about them.” - Patricia Nelson Limerick
Connect with Patricia Nelson Limerick:
● Book: The Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken Past of the American West
● Book: Desert Passages: Encounters with the American Deserts
● Email: patricia.limerick@colorado.edu
Spaceship Not Required
I’m Kathy Sullivan, the only person to have walked in space and gone to the deepest point in the ocean.
I’m an explorer, and that doesn’t always have to involve going to some remote or exotic place. It simply requires a commitment to put curiosity into action.
In this podcast, you can explore, reflecting on lessons learned from life so far and from my brilliant and ever-inquisitive guests. We explore together in this very moment from right where you are… spaceship not required.
Welcome to Kathy Sullivan Explores.