Chapter 16 - Part 14

A Noble Lunacy

Through the story of a break-in at Oak Ridge, Dan Zak’s Almighty explores the tensions of the atomic age

By Aram Goudsouzian | July 15, 2016

In July 2012 three protesters, including an elderly nun, broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. In Almighty, Washington Post reporter Dan Zak uses their story to illuminate a movement of dissenters against nuclear weapons. Zak will discuss the book at the East Tennessee History Center Auditorium in Knoxville on August 4, 2016, at 7 p.m.

All the World’s a Stage

In 1616 Thomas Christensen collects enchanting stories and striking art to describe a world in motion

By Aram Goudsouzian | April 15, 2016

April 15, 2016 In 1616: The World in Motion, Thomas Christensen describes a time of great change, remarkable people, and global connections. Christensen will discuss the book at Rhodes College in Memphis on April 21, 2016, at 6 p.m. and at the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library in Memphis on April 23, 2016, at 1 p.m. Both events are free and open to the public.

Holding a Wolf by the Ears

In his Pulitzer-winning history, The Internal Enemy, Alan Taylor recounts how slaves shaped the War of 1812 and altered the nation’s history

By Aram Goudsouzian | March 24, 2016

March 24, 2016 Alan Taylor won the second of his two Pulitzer Prizes in History for The Internal Enemy: Slavery and War in Virginia, 1772-1832. On March 31, 2016, at 6 p.m. at the University Center Theatre on the campus of the University of Memphis, Taylor will deliver the Belle McWilliams Lecture in American History on the subject of “The Economy of Violence: The American Revolution in the South.”

Reconstructing a Tragedy

Stephen V. Ash describes the Memphis Massacre of 1866, a brutal episode with profound implications for race and democracy

By Aram Goudsouzian | March 9, 2016

March 9, 2016 In A Massacre in Memphis, Stephen V. Ash tells the story of three days in May 1866 when white mobs rampaged through communities of newly freed blacks, shaping the history of Memphis and the nation. Ash will discuss the book at Rhodes College in Memphis on March 17, 2016, at 6 p.m.

Black Power’s Prophet

Peniel Joseph chronicles the life of Stokely Carmichael, a global icon of revolution

By Aram Goudsouzian | February 5, 2016

February 5, 2016 Peniel Joseph’s Stokely: A Life details the life and importance of revolutionary icon Stokely Carmichael with such skill that it won the National Book Award from the Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change at the University of Memphis. In honor of the award, Joseph will speak at 11 a.m. on February 11, 2016, at the University of Memphis.

Ghost Stories

Allyson Hobbs uncovers the fascinating history of racial passing in the United States

By Aram Goudsouzian | December 11, 2015

December 11, 2015 As Allyson Hobbs reveals in her fascinating history, A Chosen Exile, black people endured great loss when they “passed” as white. Hobbs will discuss her book at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis on December 17, 2015, at 6 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

Radical Volunteers: Dissent, Desegregation, and Student Power in Tennessee

Katherine J. Ballentyne
University of Georgia Press
244 pages
$29.95

“Radical Volunteers tells the largely unknown story of southern student activism in Tennessee between the Brown decision in 1954 and the national backlash against the Kent State University shootings in May 1970. As one of the first statewide studies of student activism—and one of the few examinations of southern student activism—it broadens scholarly understanding of New Left and Black student radicalism from its traditionally defined hotbeds in the Northeast and on the West Coast.”

~the publisher