Book Reviews | Chapter 16

To Grant a Pardon?

By Tim Boyd

March 21, 2012

March 21, 2012 Jonathan D. Sarna’s When General Grant Expelled the Jews is a masterfully written study of the “General Orders No. 11” issued by Ulysses S. Grant in late 1862, a decision that removed all Jewish residents from the military theatre under Grant’s control. Sarna examines the long-term consequences of the order, both for American Jews as a whole and for Grant as an individual. By considering Grant’s motives, the reaction of Jewish leaders in the U.S., and the impact the orders had on Grant’s relationship with the Jewish community for the rest of his career, When General Grant Expelled the Jews persuasively argues that Grant’s actions ultimately strengthened the position of Jews in America and pushed him to seek his own personal redemption. Sarna will discuss the book at the Jewish Community Center in Memphis on March 25 at 2 p.m. Click here for details.

Searching for the Poet Laureate of Music Row

By Pablo Tanguay

March 19, 2012

March 19, 2012 From the time of Homer to the Renaissance, poetry and song were inexorably linked. According to The Poetics of American Song Lyrics, a collection of essays edited by Knoxvillian Charlotte Pence, it’s this shared history that explains why much of the poetic tradition remains embedded in popular songs. To demonstrate, Pence herself, in an essay titled “The Sonnet Within the Song: Country Lyrics and the Shakespearean Sonnet,” compares the structure of several hit country songs to that of the traditional sonnet.

Soul Survivor

By Ed Tarkington

March 14, 2012

March 14, 2012 Legendary Rolling Stones sideman Bobby Keys has just produced a surprisingly lucid and detailed account of his hazy whirlwind life on the road and in the studio with many of modern music’s greats. Written with the assistance of former Nashville Lifestyles editor Bill Ditenhafer, Every Night’s a Saturday Night meticulously traces Keys’s extraordinary rise from the dusty outskirts of Lubbock, Texas, to bear witness to the glory years of rock ‘n’ roll. Bobby Keys will discuss Every Night’s a Saturday Night at Parnassus Books in Nashville on March 19 at 7 p.m., and at The Booksellers at Laurelwood in Memphis on March 21 at 6 p.m.

Dashed Hopes, Pieced Together Again

By Faye Jones

March 13, 2012

March 13, 2012 In her debut novel, Amy Franklin-Willis tells the story of a family that seems destined to repeat the same mistakes, generation after generation. With Ezekiel Cooper, there’s finally a real chance to make a new life, but can he break the family pattern? In answering this question, The Lost Saints of Tennessee—which has been praised by Pat Conroy, Dorothy Allison, and Mark Satterfield—seems destined to take its place among novels that truly capture the heartbreak and hope of the working poor. Amy Franklin-Willis will read from The Lost Saints of Tennessee on March 17 at 1 p.m. at The Booksellers at Laurelwood in Memphis, and on March 21 at 6:30 p.m. at Parnassus Books in Nashville.

The Stories We Tell

By Susannah Felts

March 12, 2012

March 12, 2012 Manuel Muñoz’s first novel, What You See in the Dark, weaves together the stories of two murders. In the fictional world of the novel, one story is “real,” and one is based on the filming of Psycho’s infamous shower scene. Through these twinned killings, Muñoz explores the way stories are embedded in lived experience, from the movies we consume to the stories we tell ourselves about our lives to the narratives we (mostly unwittingly) construct to make sense of strangers and intimates alike. With the turn of every page, he lays bare the constructed nature of reality—the multiplicity of constructions of any one event. Muñoz will give a reading at Vanderbilt University in Nashville on March 15 at 7 p.m. Click here for details.

Deciding Who Gets to Be God

By Chris Scott

March 7, 2012

March 7, 2012 In his novel When the Killing’s Done, T.C. Boyle sets conservationists against animal-rights activists in a battle royal over the ecosystem of the Channel Islands off the coast of California. It’s a fight both philosophical and physical, and it leaves no one unscathed. Boyle will discuss and sign When the Killing’s Done on March 16 at the Nashville Public Library as part of the Salon@615 series. A free public reception begins at 6:15 p.m. and will be followed by a reading at 7. Click here for details.

“This book presents a well-thought-out argument explaining why Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have earned and deserve the moral and financial support of every American citizen for their contributions to establishing American democracy, providing the foundation of the American economy, and enriching American culture.”

~ the publisher