The reversal of the Chicago River in 1900 flooded farmland downstream, opened the gates for new invasive species, and polluted areas as far south as the Gulf of Mexico.

When John Neihardt joined MU’s faculty 70 years ago, this charismatic poet not only beguiled legions of students with his epic tales of the frontier but also helped forge the voices of talented young authors, including William Least Heat-Moon, who went on to write the bestseller Blue Highways.

Equal parts essay, journalism and memoir, Midwestern Strange is a breezy read, often very funny, and occasionally — at its best — illuminating.

Inspired by his research into the Icelandic eiderdown harvest, in which farmers and eider ducks peaceably co-exist, Posnett travels the globe in search of similar harvests "predicated on cooperation rather than domination."

Diagnosed with stage 4 throat cancer in July 2015, David Roberts decided finally to pursue an idea he'd been pondering for more than 20 years: "retracing the 1,700-mile loop that Dominguez and Escalante had inscribed across a Southwest that was a blank on the Spanish map."

How do you keep rural schools open when enrollment is declining and small towns are emptying out?

Now comes Aloha Rodeo: Three Hawaiian Cowboys, the World's Greatest Rodeo, and a Hidden History of the American West, to further buck — at least to pluralize — our clichéd notions of the American cowboy.

Enviva, the largest industrial wood-pellet manufacturer in the world, launched what it calls an “enhanced and expanded global sourcing policy” last week in partnership with Earthworm Foundation.

How two runners amassed 567 pairs of shoes—many of which they've never even worn.

Given the torrent of dire climate forecasts, the notion of biomass as a “carbon-neutral” energy source has come increasingly under fire from both the environmental and scientific communities.

Peratrovich and her husband rallied Natives to ensure the passage of the 1945 Anti-Discrimination Act, the first anti-discrimination law in the United States.

At the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Nevada, friends and performers with wide-ranging views met to discuss climate change, immigration and other concerns ‘without demonizing each other’

Bullets flew in Vietnam. Campus sparked with protest. And a group of students, mired in existential dread, began to question the academic system. Searching for answers, they formed a commune adjacent downtown Lincoln, in a large, old home they called The Castle. In the end, the results were ambiguous, but they would never forget their time at Nebraska.

Sam Anderson’s ambitious new book about Oklahoma City reanimates a place that has too often been portrayed as simplistic.

If “The Last Cowboys” doesn’t provide all the answers, it does give us one hell of a ride.

Land disputes, water rights, Native sovereignty: Paramount’s new series could hardly be more relevant to today’s West.

They love the land. But few at the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering want to talk about how climate change is ravaging the West.

Ms. Ebert, who rose to queenly prominence within the chivalrous ranks of cowboy poetry, died on March 20 at a hospital in Bismarck, N.D., after breaking a hip. 

After nine years and two presidents, it's not big environmental groups with the best shot at defeating the pipeline—it's a bunch of well-organized locals.

He brandishes a fine-point ink pen and three degrees from UNL while interpreting Shakespeare during his second career.