Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

Aram Goudsouzian

A Southern Story

Andrew Ross reconstructs the history of one Shelby County plantation from multiple perspectives

In The Realms of Oblivion, Andrew Ross tells the history of the 19th-century South through the experience of the Davies family and the Black people who worked their land in both slavery and freedom.

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Arcs of Hope and Tragedy

Frye Gaillard delivers a sprawling, panoramic history of the 1960s

FROM THE CHAPTER 16 ARCHIVE: Frye Gaillard’s A Hard Rain pulls the reader into the 1960s, not just to witness its momentous events, but to feel its idealism and disenchantment. First published in 2018, A Hard Rain has recently been released in paperback and as an audiobook.

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All Shook Up

Michael Bertrand examines how rock ‘n’ roll united and divided Southerners across the color line

Tennessee State University historian Michael Bertrand reflects on the complicated history of race, rock ‘n’ roll, and the South. Southern History Remixed compels readers to contemplate the meaning of our everyday actions, behaviors, and consumer choices — including the music we listen to.

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Southern Graces

Ann Mulhearn explains how Catholic women shaped social justice in Memphis

In Social Justice from Outside the Walls, Ann Youngblood Mulhearn tells the story of six Catholic women — three Black, three white — whose activism changed Memphis in the 1950s and 1960s. An engaging and well-told book, it combines religious, political, and African American history to add a key dimension to a city that stood at the heart of the struggle for social justice.  

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Piracy and Power

Angela Sutton recounts a pivotal battle in the history of the Atlantic slave trade

Angela Sutton’s Pirates of the Slave Trade weaves together biographies of fascinating figures, tales of maritime warfare, and analyses of politics and power in Europe and West Africa — with implications for the system of slavery that shaped the United States.

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What is “the South”?

Fitzhugh Brundage reflects on an ambitious undertaking: A New History of the American South

A New History of the American South collects interpretations of Southern history into a coherent, fascinating narrative. Its editor, Fitzhugh Brundage, will discuss the book at the 2023 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville on October 21-22.

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