Julie Carr, "Mud, Blood, and Ghosts: Populism, Eugenics, and Spiritualism in the American West" (U Nebraska Press, 2023)

New Books in American Studies · Jul 14, 2023 · 1h 10m

In Mud, Blood, and Ghosts: Populism, Eugenics, and Spiritualism in the American West (U Nebraska Press, 2023), University of Colorado poet and English professor Julie Carr uses family legend and lore to tell a history of the American West at the turn of the twentieth century. By tracking the story of her larger-than-life great-grandfather, the late nineteenth century People's Party politician and Nebraska settler Omer Kem, Carr explains her family's ties to systems and trends critical to understanding the American past, including race, colonialism, capitalism, and religion. Told from a unique…