A Publication of Humanities Tennessee

Book Reviews

How They Played the Game

By John Egerton

November 14, 2012 Two of the most celebrated sportswriters in American history were born a generation apart and attended the same university: Grantland Rice graduated from Vanderbilt in 1901, and Fred Russell followed in 1927. Russell idolized his predecessor and emulated him in some ways, but their differences were significant, and most of them bend in Russell’s favor. Andrew Derr’s new biography, Life of Dreams: The Good Times of Sportswriter Fred Russell, brings some needed balance to a comparison of the illustrious careers of these two Vanderbilt icons.

Steady as Time

By Tina LoTufo

November 13, 2012 The difficulty of finding work during the Depression drew poet and novelist James Still to Knott County, Kentucky, but it was the wild beauty of the place that kept him there. As he got to know the fiercely independent inhabitants of a harsh landscape, he began to write about their lives. In The Hills Remember, editor Ted Olson, professor of Appalachian Studies at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, has put together a collection of Still’s short pieces spanning more than forty years. In them Still’s own voice emerges, as clear and as pure as a dipperful of cold mountain water.

The Bridge and its Tolls

By Sarah Norris

November 8, 2012 David Madden’s prodigious research—and his boundless imagination and curiosity—are evident everywhere in London Bridge in Plague and Fire. For readers interested in historical fiction, this novel stands out for its multi-dimensional plot, dynamic wordplay, and richly nuanced characters. The book is a treasure trove of entertainment and suspense. David Madden will read from London Bridge in Plague and Fire on November 12 at 7 p.m. in the Hodges Library Auditorium on the Knoxville campus of the University of Tennessee. This free public event, part of the “Writers in the Library” series, is co-sponsored by the UT Creative Writing Program.

Under Attack

By Ralph Bowden

November 6, 2012 While Grant gathered his forces and defeated Bragg in Chattanooga, Confederate James Longstreet tried to retake Knoxville from Union forces under Ambrose Burnside. The struggle for Knoxville, usually regarded as a sideshow to the more strategically vital Chattanooga battle, has been comparatively understudied, but in The Knoxville Campaign: Burnside and Longstreet in East Tennessee, Earl J. Hess has given it the scholarly but readable treatment it deserves. Hess will discuss and sign his book at the Frank H. McClung Museum on the University of Tennessee campus in Knoxville on November 11 at 2 p.m.

Imagination and Wit, with a Side of Conscience

By Maria Browning

October 23, 2012 Since her first novel, The Edible Woman, was published in 1969, Margaret Atwood has always seemed a writer very much of her time and yet prescient, with an almost uncanny ability to show us clearly who we are and where we might be headed. One of a tiny handful of authors who enjoy both critical respect and wide popular appeal, Atwood has used her prominence to advocate for the environmental causes that are her passionate concern. As the Nashville Public Library Foundation prepares to honor Atwood with the 2012 Nashville Public Library Literary Award, Chapter 16 surveys her body of work. Atwood will give a free public reading on October 27 at 10 a.m. in the auditorium of the Nashville Public Library downtown.

Love and Death in Venice

By Faye Jones

October 22, 2012 When Lady Emily Hargreaves heads to Italy, it’s a fair bet that she isn’t on vacation. In fact, Emily—the heroine of Death in the Floating City, Tasha Alexander’s seventh Victorian mystery—arrives in Venice to solve a murder. To find the killer, she must investigate not only those around her but also the lives of star-crossed lovers who lived centuries before. Fans of Alexander, a former Franklin resident, know Emily will manage it all with charm, intelligence, and ladylike decorum. Tasha Alexander will discuss Death in the Floating City at Parnassus Books on October 24 at 6:30 p.m.

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