Folge 73: Arid Empire: The Entangled Fates of Arizona and Arabia - A Book Talk with Natalie Koch, University of Heidelberg

In this episode of the HCA podcast, Anja Schüler talks to Heidelberg geographer Natalie Koch about her new book “Arid Empire: The Entangled Fate of Arizona and Arabia.“ While many of us see deserts as mythic spaces or just empty wastelands, they can also be crucial political spaces and sites of imperial aspirations. Natalie Koch’s new history of the colonization of the American West explores these themes, the mutual exchange of “desert knowledge” between Arizona and Arabia, and the dual relationship between the colonization of the U.S. Southwest and diplomatic relations in the Middle East.