What with all the recent discussions of, disputes over, and governmental decisions regarding, American wild areas being on the front pages of newspapers across the nation, the scholars who produce the BackStory podcast recently aired a rebroadcast of their deeply thought-provoking episode Untrammeled; Americans and the Wilderness.

Hosts Ed Ayers, Brian Balogh, and Nathan Connolly (Joanne Freeman didn’t participate in this episode) take their listeners through a series of fascinating interviews with noted authorities on the historical, biological, and social aspects of the subject such as Charles Mann, Lisa Brady, and Char Miller. Discussions cover a range of wilderness-related topics, particularly what it has been, never was, is, and may become.