Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

Tim Henderson

Bright Lights, Long Battery Life

Author Jay McInerney beefs up his high-tech cred with a (sort-of) review of the Apple iPad

April 14, 2010 Early adopters take note, Jay McInerney half-blogs his initial response to Apple's iPad over at The Daily Beast. Along the way, he opines on Amazon vs. Apple, quantifies his travel reading requirements, and questions the holiness of print. "I don't consider the magazine, as a physical object, to be sacred. It's that it's always been so much more convenient than its online incarnation." Not so much, anymore, McInerney says, now that the Fall issue of Vanity Fair in print and on the iPad are more-or-less the same size and weight.

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Impeached: The Trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln's Legacy

Impeached: The Trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln's Legacy

David O. Stewart
Simon & Schuster
464 pages
$27


“Fresh from his masterful The Summer of 1787, Stewart takes on one of the seamiest events in American history: the vengeful impeachment of Lincoln’s successor as president; the Senate failed to convict Andrew Johnson by a single vote. At issue was the continuation of Lincoln’s plans to reintegrate the South into the union after the Civil War. But also at stake, as always, was party politics. Stewart takes readers through a tangled web of motives and maneuverings in lively, unadorned prose. … As he sums it up, in 1868 none of the country’s leaders was great, a few were good, all were angry, and far too many were despicable.”

Publisher’s Weekly

State By State: A Panoramic Portrait of America

State By State: A Panoramic Portrait of America

Edited by Matt Weiland and Sean Wilsey
Ecco
608 pages
$16.99


“The Union dead are buried on a hill with a view of the Tennessee River. It is a lovely spot, cooler for the breeze that comes off the water, and each grave has a small white maker. Outside the gates of the graveyard there is a copy of the Gettysburg Address written on a metal plaque. The Confederates are buried in a mass grave in a trench that lies at the bottom of the hill, but they at least were all together, and they were home. I did not pass another soul in the park save the ranger at the gate who told me to leave when it was dark.

“If anybody tells you Tennessee has changed much, tell them to come out to Shiloh. Tell them to listen hard to the stories of the men you pick up on the road on your way there.”

Ann Patchett, from “Tennessee”

Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis

Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis

Al Gore
Rodale
416 pages
$26.99


“It’s the grand compendium of all that we know about how to undertake this most difficult of transitions, from an economy that burns fossil fuels to an economy that lives mostly on the incoming power of the sun in its many forms. … There are extensive, deeply documented chapters on everything you need to know to make sense of our situation: on forests and soils and how they might be made to sequester more carbon. On wind turbines and solar power and geothermal energy (which intrigues Gore) and biomass. He’s less sanguine about carbon capture from coal and about nuclear power, as much on the grounds of cost as anything else—but he’s careful not to shut the on any option, which is appropriate considering the scale of crisis we face.”

Bill McKibben in The Huffington Post

Family Huddle

Family Huddle

Written by Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, and Archie Manning; Illustrated by Jim Madsen
Scholastic Books
40 pages
$16.99


In Family Huddle, NFL stars Peyton and Eli Manning, along with their father, Archie, tell the story of family trip they all took back when the boys were children. In the largest single-name donation in the history of the ClassroomsCare Program, the Mannings—along with Scholastic Book Clubs and its partners, Reach Out & Read and Save the Children—will donate one million books to children in need.

“Alongside the Brothers Grimm as sibling authors of children’s books, you can add the Brothers Manning.”

Indianapolis Star

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