Erik Larson brings Churchill and the Blitz to life
In The Splendid and the Vile, bestselling author Erik Larson explains how Winston Churchill inspired the British people to keep fighting through the dark days when Britain stood alone against the Nazis.
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An award-winning poet reflects on the importance of daily practices
In Dailiness: Essays on Poetry, Mark Jarman considers canonical and contemporary writers while reflecting on the kinship of prayers and poems.
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Claire Jimenez’s debut story collection packs a punch
Staten Island Stories, the debut story collection from Vanderbilt M.F.A. grad Claire Jimenez, depicts the diverse lives of the forgotten borough. Jimenez and poet Cara Dees will discuss their work at Vanderbilt University in Nashville on March 20.
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Nan Enstad challenges myths of capitalism in Cigarettes, Inc.
The traditional portrayal of global capitalism places the white, male American entrepreneur at the center of the story. In Cigarettes, Inc., a history of the cigarette industry that spans from the U.S. South to China, Nan Enstad upends that idea. Enstad delivers the Belle McWilliams Lecture in American History at the University of Memphis on February 20.
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Candacy Taylor documents the revolutionary guide that helped black travelers navigate a segregated America
In Overground Railroad, Candacy Taylor conjures the menacing byways and backwaters black Americans traveled in the era of Jim Crow — and the revolutionary guide that lit their way. Taylor will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on February 17 and at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis on February 27.
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How Hancock County embraced its Melungeon secret
In Beyond the Sunset: The Melungeon Outdoor Drama, 1969-1976, Wayne Winkler explores how Tennessee’s poorest county turned to an unlikely source for economic revival: an outdoor drama about the region’s Melungeon heritage. The play ran for just five seasons but changed the county’s view of its mixed-race neighbors forever.
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