Writing for the City
Otis Sanford tells a lively history of power and race in From Boss Crump to King Willie, a political history of twentieth-century Memphis, bookended by two towering figures: E.H. Crump and W.W. Herenton.
A Rebellious Life
You learned the story of Rosa Parks, the quiet seamstress from Montgomery, but you missed the truth. In The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks, Jeanne Theoharis depicts Parks as a militant rebel throughout her life. Theoharis will speak on March 23 at 6 p.m. at the River Room in the University Center at the University of Memphis.
A Head Start on Justice
In A Chance for Change, Crystal Sanders expands our understanding of the role of education and federal anti-poverty programs in the civil-rights movement. She will discuss the book at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis on March 16 at 6 p.m.
Invisible Woman
As a reporter and advocate for racial justice, Ethel Payne shaped American society. James McGrath Morris’s biography of her, Eye on the Struggle, is the winner of the 2015 National Book Award from the Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change. Morris will speak about the book at 6 p.m. on November 15 at the University of Memphis.
On Freedom and Love and Changing the World
Heidegger, Sartre, de Beauvoir, Camus—in her enchanting group biography, At the Existentialist Café, Sarah Bakewell shines a light on these great existential writers and the world they made. Bakewell will discuss the book on November 9 at Rhodes College in Memphis.
How Rock-n-Roll Became White
In Just Around Midnight, Jack Hamilton describes how great artists such as Sam Cooke, Bob Dylan, the Beatles, Aretha Franklin, and the Rolling Stones crossed the race line in their music, even as the culture was separating “rock” and “soul” into separate genres. The Stax Museum of American Soul Music in Memphis will host a conversation and book signing with Hamilton on October 27 at 7 p.m.
