A Publication of Humanities Tennessee

No Wonder It's Made for TV

July 20, 2010 A physician who has written both medical and crime thrillers (Publisher’s Weekly has characterized her as the “medical suspense queen”), Tess Gerritsen consistently garners reader loyalty and critical acclaim. Her latest book Ice Cold—the eighth featuring characters Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles, the detective and medical examiner who are the basis for TNT’s new drama series Rizzoli & Isles—offers white-hot suspense of the sort Stephen King has publicly admired. Gerritsen will discuss the novel at Davis-Kidd Booksellers in Memphis on July 20 at 6 p.m.

A Legal Lynching

July 19, 2010 Did a poor black man named Willie McGee rape a white housewife named Willette Hawkins in Laurel, Mississippi, in 1945? Was she even raped, or did she just dream it? Or were the two—as Bella Abzug alleged in McGee’s third trial—lovers? As journalist Alex Heard finds in The Eyes of Willie McGee, the truth is disturbingly gray. The book is part history and part detective story, with Heard intersplicing McGee’s story with the tale of his own hunt for the facts. Heard discusses the book at the downtown branch of Nashville Public Library on July 21 at 5 p.m., and at Davis-Kidd Booksellers in Memphis on July 22 at 6 p.m.

Humanity's Final Exam

July 16, 2010 Most of the scientific information predicting global warming that Gwynne Dyer outlines in his new book, Climate Wars, has been in the news for years. Many people have ignored it, however, and even those who are both informed and concerned may not have thought through the logical consequences of what scientists predict: famine and war—and human extinction. Dyer will discuss Climate Wars at Davis-Kidd Booksellers in Nashville on July 20 at 7 p.m.

Inquisitive

July 15, 2010 Padgett Powell is a genius of American letters, a brilliant but eccentric writer who looms on the margins of the mainstream. After his first novel, Edisto (1984), won critical praise and an enthusiastic readership, his writing drifted into “surreal lines,” as he describes it, eschewing conventional plot and sympathetic characters for experiments in voice and form. After nine years of silence, Powell has returned with The Interrogative Mood, and readers may once again enjoy his trippy world play and skewed world view. He will give a free public reading at the Sewanee Writers’ Conference on July 18 at 8:15 p.m.

The Power of the Press?

July 12, 2010 With The Devil Amongst the Lawyers, the story of a beautiful young woman accused of killing her father, Sharyn McCrumb returns to the mountains of her Ballad series. Set in rural Virginia in 1935, this is as much an allegory of the contemporary media as the tale of a murder, however. The national press has descended on tiny Wise, Virginia, and the journalists are much more concerned with making the facts fit their own stories than with getting the details straight. McCrumb will discuss the book in four appearances across the state this week; find details in Events.

Giving It Her Best Shot

July 8, 2010 Pat Benatar ruled the radio airwaves during the 1980s, and for good reason. Her talent for writing and choosing clever, anthemic, and arena-ready songs earned her four Grammy Awards, produced nineteen top-forty singles, and sold more than 22 million records worldwide. Now she’s written a memoir, Between A Heart And A Rock Place, which she’ll discuss at Davis-Kidd Booksellers in Memphis on July 9 at 12:30 p.m.

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