In the 1940s, ‘50s and ‘60s, Westerns proliferated across film, television and books. Oh, the books, with their staunch brown covers, gunslingers and paint ponies, staring down the reader as though they were coming directly for us. But since then, the Western—especially the Western novel—has taken a backseat to other genres of exploration, especially other types of historical fiction and science fiction. So what is a Western, exactly? And who is still reading them? And how, exactly, does the Western genre diversify while still staying true to its historical definitions?

In this episode, we’re delving into these questions, with John Larison’s recent novel Whiskey When We’re Dry as the vehicle for the discussion. The novel, which takes place in the 1880s in Missouri, follows young Jess, who is left on the family ranch to fend for herself after her brother runs off and her father dies. Hedging her bets, Jess decides to disguise herself as a man and sets off in search of her brother, falling in with the staff of the dangerous Governor as a prized gunslinger. What follows is an adventurous, emotional story told through Jess’s indelible voice. The old West still has a lot to teach its readers, especially as it shifts and incorporates more diverse stories of the early Chinese, American Indian, and Black explorers whose stories were often shunned in Western storytelling for those of white men. We also talk about identity and Jess’s quest to understand where she comes from, which is hard enough to define in the early days of a nation, but even harder when you don’t know your own family.