In Remembering Roots: How an American Classic Transformed the World, Lucas L. Johnson II sketches the history of Alex Haley’s Roots and its TV adaptation, surveying their impact through commentary from scholars, genealogists, artists, and ordinary people from different walks of life. Johnson will sign and discuss the book at the Z. Alexander Looby Theater in Nashville on June 14.
“There is a lot of human frailty floating around,” observes Nancy Lemann in The Ritz of the Bayou, her account of the 1985 racketeering trial of Edwin Edwards, Louisiana’s colorful, crooked governor. Lemann’s sharp eye for the human frailty at work within a veritable circus of corruption earned the little-known book enduring respect from Lemann’s fans. Hub City Press makes The Ritz of the Bayou available to a new audience with a 40th anniversary edition that includes an introduction by critic James Wolcott and a new afterword by the author.
The work of photographers George Masa and Jim Thompson documented the unique beauty of the Smokies and played a significant role in the creation of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Land of Everlasting Hills by Ren and Helen Davis collects more than 200 of Masa and Thompson’s photographs and includes biographies of both men, as well as a history of the park’s creation.
The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, known as the “Six Triple Eight,” was a predominantly Black unit in the U.S. Women’s Army Corps (WAC) during World War II. Tonya Abari tells their heroic but underappreciated story in her latest picture book, The Six Triple Eight.
Be Gay, Do Crime surveys the long history of queer defiance and resilience through a daily catalog of notable events and key figures. Zane McNeill, one of the book’s editors, answered questions from Chapter 16 about the research challenges of the project and how queer history can help the community hold on to joy.
The Literary Legacy of Jimmy Carter, an essay anthology edited by Mark I. West and Frye Gaillard, surveys Carter’s large body of writing and considers what it reveals about the man from Plains, Georgia.
