Ben A. Minteer writes about where the wild meets the American West—and how that current flows through history, story, and image. He's the author or editor of more than a dozen books, including The Heart of the Wild: Essays on Nature, Conservation, and the Human Future (2024), and Wild Visions: Wilderness as Image and Idea (2022). He is also a professor of environmental history, philosophy, and conservation in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University. He lives in Tempe, AZ, with his wife and daughter.