In The Wars of Myron King: A B-17 Pilot Faces WWII and U.S.-Soviet Intrigue, James Lee McDonough records what is surely one of the more bizarre of World War II stories—the tale of Nashvillian Myron King, the bomber crew he commanded, and the part they played in the drama not only of World War II, but also the opening moves of the Cold War.
A passionate listener and an erudite chronicler of every style from blues to punk, music critic Robert Palmer was admired by many of the artists he wrote about, and by legions of fans who followed his work in The New York Times and Rolling Stone. In Blues & Chaos, editor Anthony DeCurtis brings together a selection of articles and reviews from Palmer’s 20-plus years as the premier American music writer.
Featuring the work of longtime Nashville photographer Bob Grannis, Historic Photos of Nashville in the 50s, 60s, and 70s documents the city’s dramatic evolution from sleepy town to sprawling Sunbelt metropolis.
As much as passionate readers may hate to acknowledge it, film has usurped the written word as the most popular medium for telling stories. In Life as We Show It, edited by Brian Pera (a Memphis resident) and Masha Tupitsyn, twenty-five writers examine the way films serve as our personal and collective touchstones—and shape our fundamental notions of narrative, as well.
In Amy S. Foster‘s debut novel, When Autumn Leaves, a female healer catches lightning in a bottle because the island town of Avening is a place where events defy logical explanation. The novel, like its setting, is a cozy one. The citizens of Avening, who long ago grew “to accept the bizarre anomalies as normal,” always have a warm cup of peppermint tea at the ready for a visiting neighbor or friend. This is a book about the miraculous, the magical, and the vibrantly hopeful, and its charm lingers long after the book is closed.
In a tour-de-force of popular history, America’s Prophet: Moses and the American Story, author Bruce Feiler has contributed a genuinely new idea, proposing that the ancient tale of a Hebrew prophet forms a key narrative underlying the ongoing experiment that is the United States. According to Feiler, this narrative has had a profound impact on individuals, movements, and even the founding of the republic itself. America’s Prophet is a book about the power of a story to inspire a people who are always searching for the path to freedom.
