Nonfiction | Chapter 16

Chatting with the Enemy

American adventurer Mark Stephen Meadows gets to know the rebel terrorists of Sri Lanka

By Maria Browning | June 10, 2010

June 10, 2010 Seeking an understanding of terrorism that goes beyond media fear mongering, Mark Stephen Meadows journeyed to Sri Lanka to interview the Tamil rebels who began using terror tactics more than two decades ago in their war against the government. In Tea Time with Terrorists, he reports on a troubled country, its gentle people, and the human face of terrorism. He answered questions from Chapter 16 prior to his event at Davis-Kidd Booksellers in Nashville on June 15 at 7 p.m.

Lifting Up Spirits

Anne Brown considers the faithful art of Brother Mel

By Maria Browning | June 4, 2010

June 4, 2010 Since 1958, Marianist Brother Mel Meyer has created inspired art infused with the joy of his faith. In Brother Mel: A Lifetime of Making Art, Nashville gallery owner Anne Brown offers a lavish, full-color guide and tribute to his work. Brown will join Brother Mel in an appearance at Davis-Kidd Booksellers in Nashville on June 4 at 7 p.m. and at a reception honoring the artist’s 82nd birthday at The Arts Company on June 5 from 6 to 9 p.m.

The Boy's Alright

Former Senator Fred Thompson talks with Chapter 16 about his new memoir, Teaching the Pig to Dance

By Liz Garrigan | June 3, 2010

June 8, 2010 Born in 1942 to a wise-cracking car salesman and a woman who appreciated politically incorrect humor, Fred Dalton Thompson grew up in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, where his Grandma Thompson padded around town showing off her excised goiter (which she carried around in a hankerchief), where he heard old men swap lies at the Blue Ribbon Café, and where he wandered into his share of boyhood scrapes. Thompson went on to spend eight years (1994-2003) in the U.S. Senate, conduct a failed presidential bid, and star in a long list of movies and television shows, but his new memoir, Teaching the Pig to Dance, sticks to his Lawrenceburg youth. Thompson spoke with Chapter 16 prior to his Nashville appearance at Davis-Kidd Booksellers on June 8 at 7 p.m.

Appalachian Children's Literature: An Annotated Bibliography

May 25, 2010

Teachers, parents, librarians and others who regularly encourage children and youth to read and who would like to share more books about the Appalachian region have an extensive new resource available to them. … This comprehensive bibliography – volume 26 in McFarland’s “Contributions to Southern Appalachian Studies” series – is a guide to books written about or set in Appalachia from the 18th century to the present. Annotations for the titles include brief reviews, critical analyses of the works, and indication of appropriate grade levels. Entries are indexed by author/title/illustrator and by subject, and appendices include a listing of authors and titles by grade levels and a listing of counties in the Appalachian region as defined by the Appalachian Regional Commission.

—from the publisher

Standoff

Nathaniel Philbrick reconsiders Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of the Little Bighorn

By Ralph Bowden | May 18, 2010

May 18, 2010 In the nineteenth century, America’s Manifest Destiny to occupy and exploit the West was an irresistible force. The ‘savages’ already living there were an inconvenience; they would have to yield. In most instances, the U.S. had its way, either by negotiation or in armed conflict. But not always. Nathaniel Philbrick’s The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of the Little Bighorn, updates the often-told story of how Sitting Bull’s remarkable alliance crushed Custer’s Seventh Cavalry. Philbrick appears at Davis-Kidd Booksellers in Memphis on May 20 at 6 p.m.

Writers’ Work

Sonny Brewer discusses the Southern work ethic, the future of the book, and editing a new collection of essays by writers about their day jobs

By Michael Ray Taylor | May 17, 2010

May 17, 2010 If anyone ever had a finger on the pulse of Southern literature, that person is Sonny Brewer. The Alabama native is the author of four acclaimed novels and editor of the series Stories from the Blue Moon Café: Anthologies of Southern Writers. But perhaps his closest connections to the living literature of the South are Over the Transom Bookstore in Fairhope, Alabama, which he owns, and the nonprofit Fairhope Center for the Writing Arts, which he chairs. All of this connectivity to working Southern writers has led Brewer to a new kind of anthology: one about Southern writers at work. As in working at actual, sweaty jobs. Chapter 16 recently spoke with Brewer about the new book, The Railroad as Art: Southern Writers and Day Jobs, to be published in October by M.P. Publishing.