“Forward My Brave Boys!” is the surprisingly readable diary of a Confederate regiment
The 11th Tennessee Volunteer Infantry, C.S.A., lives again in M. Todd Cathey and Gary W. Waddey’s massive “Forward My Brave Boys!” Born from Southern outrage, the volunteer regiment encountered both tedium and hardship during the Civil War.
In Seeds on Ice, Memphis native Cary Fowler explains the need for a global seed vault
Cary Fowler is the driving force behind the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, a storehouse of genetic diversity located beneath the icy landscape of northernmost Norway. In Seeds on Ice, Fowler explains how the vault came to be and offers a virtual visit to its Arctic home via photographs by Mari Tefre. Fowler will appear at The Booksellers at Laurelwood in Memphis on December 10.
Historian James Carl Nelson follows a young Tennessee soldier on the front lines of World War I
In I Will Hold, James Carl Nelson tells the story of Clifton Cates, a University of Tennessee law-school graduate who joined the Marines just as the U.S. entered the Great War. The young soldier’s amazing luck and bravery during the carnage made him a him a hero.
Michael Chabon’s Moonglow is the death-bed memoir of a fictional Jewish scientist
In Michael Chabon’s new novel, Moonglow, a dying man summons his grandson and reveals his life story, including picaresque adventure, tragic romance, and stellar ambition—and the lingering psycho-social damage inflicted by the Holocaust. Chabon will discuss Moonglow at the Nashville Public Library on December 4 at 3 p.m.
Civil-rights hero—and National Book Award-winner—John Lewis talks with Chapter 16
On November 16, John Lewis—along with his collaborators, co-author Andrew Aydin and artist Nate Powell—won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature with March: Book Three. But even before he accepted that honor, Lewis had already been named the 2016 recipient of the Nashville Public Library Literary Award, a prize that last week brought him back to Nashville, where he first began his long career as a civil-rights activist. Today Lewis talks with Chapter 16 about his books—and his unparalleled life in public service.
What do we owe the writers who get us through our darkest days?
After a series of embarrassing encounters, it should be clear to me by now that a songwriter’s need to be thanked by a fan is in no way commensurate with my own need to thank every single one of them, but still I persist.
Read more
