Chapter 16 - Part 14

Finding the Energy to Move

Amanda Little traces the origins of America’s oil dependence—and investigates options for the future

By Chris Scott | October 15, 2009

Amanda Little has been doing some traveling. After the great northeast blackout of August 2003, the Nashville environmental journalist decided that she wanted to learn the nuts and bolts—or, more appropriately, the barrels and watts—of America’s energy infrastructure. She investigates the ways in which energy shapes our lives and considers possible options for the future, now that our addiction to fossil fuels is becoming untenable. The result is Power Trip: From Oil Wells to Solar Cells—A Ride to Our Renewable Future.

Personal Business

Is a Ponzi scheme always founded in evil?

By Chris Scott | October 5, 2009

Meet Robbie Case. Thirty-five-year-old CEO of multi-national Core Communications. Wunderkind manager. Technical guru. Beloved boss. Darling of Wall Street. Liar extraordinaire.

Men of Steel

Riding the rails with Howard Bahr in Pelican Road

By Chris Scott | October 2, 2009

When an author establishes a stellar reputation for one kind of book, he takes a risk if he turns to new subjects, as Howard Bahr has done in Pelican Road. A former professor of English at Motlow State College in Tullahoma, Bahr acquired a slew of excellent reviews and awards for his first three novels, each featuring characters haunted by the horrors of the Civil War, particularly the vicious Battle of Franklin. So fans may be apprehensive to learn that his new book skips ahead seventy-five years and portrays not soldiers but men who rode the rails in the golden age of steam.

Hot Popcorn, Cold War

Ronald Kidd’s new Young Adult novel takes kids to the movies during the red scare

By Chris Scott | September 14, 2009

The 1950s was a scary time, full of drop drills, McCarthyism, and Soviet boasts. It was also the golden age of horror movies. Aliens, mutants, zombies, and werewolves filled theater screens. Coincidence? Not in Ronald Kidd‘s The Year of the Bomb, a young-adult novel that explores the angst of growing up surrounded by real and imagined horror.