Chapter 16 - Part 11

Living In a Gray Area

Mark Greaney’s third novel pushes ex-CIA assassin Court Gentry deeper into the shadows

By Chris Scott | October 26, 2011

October 26, 2011 Court Gentry lives in a morally ambiguous world. In Ballistic by Memphis novelist Mark Greaney, the ex-CIA assassin brings his unique fighting skills to bear against some of the most violent people on earth—the Mexican drug cartels. The action is fast and deadly, and the shadows dark and deep, in this third outing for one of the thriller genre’s newest heroes.

The Pain of What Might Have Been

In a compelling new history, Candice Millard retells the tragedy of the Garfield assassination

By Chris Scott | October 12, 2011

October 12, 2011 Charles Guiteau did much more than kill James Garfield. As Candice Millard explains in Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President, the deranged Guiteau deprived America of a potentially great president. Even in death Garfield inspired much of the reform that he advocated in his too-short term of office. His murder, Millard writes, “brought tremendous change to the country he loved—change that, had it come earlier, almost certainly would have spared his life.” Millard will appear at the 2011 Southern Festival of Books, held October 14-16 in Nashville. All events are free and open to the public.

Getting to Know A. Lincoln

Ronald C. White Jr. talks about the moral growth and modern relevance of the sixteenth president

By Chris Scott | September 26, 2011

September 26, 2011 Writing a compelling new biography of a subject as monumental as Abraham Lincoln is a remarkable achievement. Ronald C. White Jr. has done just that with A. Lincoln, a universally praised new look at one of the most important figures in world history. The biography is both detailed and accessible, and White recently took the time to answer questions from Chapter 16 via email about what makes Lincoln so fascinating. White will give a lecture about the Civil War on September 26 at 5:30 p.m. at Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville. The event is free and open to the public.

The Wonder of Her Smile

In his first novel, Carson Morton sends readers to the Louvre in the company of thieves

By Chris Scott | August 16, 2011

August 16, 2011 In Stealing Mona Lisa, first-time novelist Carson Morton takes readers to the heart of Belle-Époque Paris to participate in a notorious art heist with a cast of lovable rogues. Morton will read from the book at Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Brentwood on August 18 at 7 p.m. He will also appear at the 2011 Southern Festival of Books, held October 14-16 in Nashville.

Old Hickory’s Revenge

Steve Berry’s latest thriller puts Andrew Jackson at the center of a historical mystery

By Chris Scott | July 12, 2011

July 12, 2011 For the first time, international best-selling author Steve Berry has set one of his Cotton Malone thrillers in the United States, and it has a Tennessee connection. When Malone sets out to defeat a band of modern-day pirates, he must first decipher a clue left by Andrew Jackson. The Jefferson Key opens with an attack on Old Hickory and rushes at breakneck speed through some of the dimmer recesses of American history, delivering an extra-large order of conspiracy, double-crosses, and wild action.

In the Company of Red-Tail Angels

A new history celebrates the World War II achievements of the Tuskegee Airmen

By Chris Scott | June 15, 2011

June 15, 2011 In their book, The Tuskegee Airmen: An Illustrated History, historians Joseph Caver, Jerome Ennels, and Daniel Haulman detail the history of one of the most celebrated air-combat units of World War II, men who struggled against racism at home and the Nazis abroad, and who earned their wings as genuine American heroes.

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