Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

Unanticipated Consequences

Sarah E. Igo’s The Known Citizen considers the case for privacy

In her sweeping, meticulously researched new book, The Known Citizen: A History of Privacy in Modern America, Sarah E. Igo charts the evolution of privacy as a peculiarly American principle. Igo will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on May 12.

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Trauma, Suffering, and Joy

Karen Spears Zacharias winds up her Appalachian trilogy

Karen Spears Zacharias’s Christian Bend is the final novel in a trilogy set in the small East Tennessee community of the same name. It adds new characters and plot twists to the major issues set up in the first two novels, Mother of Rain and Burdy.

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The Mystic Chords of Memory

Jon Meacham sees a hopeful future in America’s past

In The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels, Jon Meacham examines this country’s history of division and finds optimism in the way Americans have responded to trying times. Meacham will appear in conversation with Governor Bill Haslam at Montgomery Bell Academy on May 12.

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A Story in Every Plate, a Plate in Every Story

Rick Bragg is back with another family memoirthis time with recipes

Rick Bragg’s subject in The Best Cook in the World: Tales from My Momma’s Table is the family’s foodways—its long legacy of Southern cooking, its relationship with food through hard times and flush seasons, the recipes handed down generation upon generation. Bragg will appear at Novel in Memphis on May 7 and at the Nashville Public Library on May 8.

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Raise More Hell

In Make Trouble, Cecile Richards recounts a life of agitating for justice

In Make Trouble, Cecile Richards shares the lessons she’s learned in a lifetime on the front lines of battles for social change. Richards will appear in conversation with Ann Patchett at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music in Nashville on May 9.

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A Trio on Love and Loss

A policeman, a dancer, and a pianist triangulate in Leesa Cross-Smith’s debut novel

A fallen policeman’s survivors confront their grief and rearrange their lives in Leesa Cross-Smith’s debut novel, Whiskey & Ribbons. The author will speak at Parnassus Books in Nashville on May 6.

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