Book Reviews | Chapter 16

Before the Water Came

Amy Greene’s new novel, Long Man, tells the story of a place lost to progress

By Maria Browning | July 29, 2014

July 29, 2014 In Amy Greene’s richly told second novel, the year is 1936, and the fictional Tennessee town of Yuneetah has been doomed by a TVA dam project. Long Man is the story of a crisis among the community’s last holdouts, and it brings a lost world to life. Greene will appear at the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville October 10-12, 2014. All festival events are free and open to the public.

Freedom Turns Fifty

In The Bill of the Century, Clay Risen explores the fascinating twists and turns of groundbreaking civil-rights legislation

By Michael Ray Taylor | July 28, 2014

July 28, 2014 Clay Risen, a frequent Chapter16 contributor, returns to the historic struggle for civil rights in The Bill of the Century: The Epic Battle for the Civil Rights Act, a penetrating account of the heroic effort to pass the landmark 1964 legislation. He will appear at the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville October 10-12, 2014. All festival events are free and open to the public.

Cuss Away, Junior Ray

The third installment in John Pritchard’s series features a foul-mouthed deputy

By Michael Ray Taylor | July 24, 2014

July 24, 2014 John Pritchard’s Sailing to Alluvium may be one of the most profane novels ever published, but it’s a distinctly Southern profanity, delivering surprisingly sophisticated social commentary. It is also a real hoot. John Pritchard will appear at the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville October 10-12, 2014. All festival events are free and open to the public.

Leaving the Maid to Clean up the Mess

Ariel Lawhon’s debut novel reveals a plummy, pernicious mystery

By Sarah Norris | July 23, 2014

July 23, 2014 The Wife, The Maid, and The Mistress, the debut novel by Nashville resident Ariel Lawhon, revisits the real-life mystery surrounding the 1930 disappearance of New York Supreme Court judge Joseph Crater. Ariel Lawhon will appear at the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville October 10-12, 2014. All festival events are free and open to the public.

Couples Therapy at the End of the World

Edan Lepucki’s California is a uniquely domestic turn on the post-apocalyptic novel

By Ed Tarkington | July 17, 2014

July 17, 2014 Thanks to an unexpected bump from comedian Stephen Colbert, Edan Lepucki’s debut novel has been lifted up from the crowded field of post-apocalyptic novels to wide notice and acclaim. A unique take on the form, California focuses less on the sensational aspects of Armageddon than on the complications of domesticity in a crumbling world. Lepucki will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on July 29, 2014, at 6:30 p.m.

Crime and Punishment in the Wyoming Wilderness

C.J. Box, author of the Joe Pickett novels, explores evil and vengeance in a new story collection

By Sean Kinch | July 16, 2014

July 16, 2014 C.J. Box’s first collection of short fiction, Shots Fired, offers a fair introduction to the author’s preoccupation with irredeemable evil. While only four of the stories feature Joe Pickett, the intrepid Wyoming game warden who appears in fourteen of Box’s novels, the rest retain Box’s fascination with sudden violence, exotic animals, and rough justice. C.J. Box will appear at The Booksellers at Laurelwood in Memphis on July 28, 2014, at 6 p.m.

The Rise and Fall of Treason in English History

By Allen Boyer and Mark Nicholls
Routledge
340 pages
$180

The book “explores the reasons why treason coalesced around specific offences agreed by both the monarch and the wider political nation, why it became an essential instrument of enforcement in high politics, and why, over the past three hundred years, it has gradually fallen into disuse while remaining on the statute book.”

~the publisher