Book Reviews

Stephen Preskill’s Education in Black and White revisits the history of the Highlander Folk Center and its longtime director Myles Horton. The author weaves the stories of several activist-educators who, as they learned together at Highlander, imagined possibilities for participatory democratic life. Preskill will discuss the book at a virtual event hosted by Parnassus Books in Nashville on May 12.

In seven interlocking chapters, Joan Silber’s novel Secrets of Happiness dramatizes the lives of characters at crossroads that force reassessments of values. Silber will discuss the novel at a virtual event hosted by Parnassus Books in Nashville on May 6.

In Stray, Stephanie Danler doesn’t just look directly at her own childhood trauma, but tracks the borders and shapes that trauma forms in her adult life. Danler will discuss the book at a virtual event hosted by Parnassus Books in Nashville on May 4. 

In Blood and Treasure: Daniel Boone and the Fight for America’s First Frontier, Bob Drury and Tom Clavin tell the story of Boone’s role in pushing American settlement west of the Appalachians. Drury and Clavin will discuss the book at a virtual event hosted by Novel in Memphis on May 13.

Sobremesa, the second book by Argentine-American author Josephine Caminos Oría, is a delicious paean to her roots and to the culture that informs her life’s work. Oría will discuss the book at a virtual event hosted by Novel in Memphis on May 6.