What really happened during Western expansion?
In this conversation, Douglas Robbins sits down with author Larry Rather to explore the forgotten history of the Ute Nation, broken treaties, territorial loss, inter-tribal conflict, slavery in the American West, and the emotional cost of forced relocation.
We discuss:
• The Treaty of 1868 and its unraveling
• How 16 million acres became a sliver of reservation land 
• Human trafficking among tribes and Spanish territories 
• The economic and cultural impact of western expansion
• Spiritual reverence for land and the shift toward modern disconnection
This isn’t a simplified history lesson.
It’s a conversation about memory, survival, and what happens when progress comes at someone else’s expense.
If you care about truth, story, and understanding where we came from, this episode matters.
