Chapter 16 - Part 336

What It Was, Was Football—and Segregation

A front-yard football game ignites a controversy in Taylor Kitchings’s new middle-grade novel, Yard War

By Corabel Shofner | September 17, 2015

September 17, 2015 Trip Westbrook did not expect his world to fall apart just because he asked his housekeeper’s son to play football in the front yard. Yard War, a new middle-grade novel by Taylor Kitchings, takes place in segregated Mississippi, and what follows this game of pickup ball surprises and confuses young Trip. Kitchings will appear at The Booksellers at Laurelwood in Memphis on September 24, 2015, at 6:30 p.m.

Glowing with Promise, Rotting from Within

David Maraniss chronicles eighteen months in the history of Detroit, when the city was at its peak

By Aram Goudsouzian | September 16, 2015

September 16, 2015 In Once in a Great City: A Detroit Story, David Maraniss weaves together the city’s key stories during the early 1960s: Ford’s unveiling of the Mustang, the liberal dreams of labor leaders and politicians, the civil-rights movement and its discontents, and the glory of Motown. Maraniss will appear at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 9-11, 2015.

Equilibrium Might Be a Little Hard to Manage Today, Actually

“Equilibrium” a poem by Vanderbilt graduate student Tiana Clark, has just won a lucrative national prize

By Margaret Renkl | September 15, 2015

September 15, 2015 “Equilibrium” by Tiana Clark, a first-year graduate student in Vanderbilt University’s M.F.A program in creative writing has won first prize in the annual poetry competition sponsored by the literary magazine Rattle. The award carries a stipend of $10,000.

A World of Dirty Secrets

In Purity, Jonathan Franzen’s characters struggle to stay clean in filthy times

By Sean Kinch | September 15, 2015

September 15, 2015 In Purity, Jonathan Franzen creates a distinctly fallen world: motives are always mixed, and altruistic intentions are corrupted by selfishness. Franzen will read from his ironically titled novel in Ingram Hall at the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University in Nashville on September 23, 2015, at 6:15. p.m.

Stumbling on a Wasp’s Nest

In Ronald Kidd’s new middle-grade novel, a girl comes of age in the civil-rights era

By Tracy Barrett | September 14, 2015

September 14, 2015 Thirteen-year-old Billie Sims, the heroine of Ronald Kidd’s middle-grade historical novel, Night on Fire, is just becoming aware of prejudice all around her. Then the Freedom Riders come to town. Ronald Kidd will discuss his most recent novel for young readers at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 9-11, 2015.

The Fabric of Our Economy

Sven Beckert talks with Chapter 16 about how the history of cotton explains the origin of modern capitalism

By Clay Risen | September 11, 2015

September 11, 2014 History is often told through the stories of wars, famines, and presidents, but as Harvard historian Sven Beckert shows in his new book, it can also be told through a simple, everyday crop: cotton. Beckert will discuss Empire of Cotton at Rhodes College in Memphis on September 17, 2015, at 6 p.m.

Tias and Primas: On Knowing and Loving the Women Who Raise Us

By Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez, illustrated by Josie Del Castillo
Seal Press
304 pages
$30

“Within these pages, I found my abuela, my tías and my primas — laughing, crying, and nodding alongside me. This book is a gift of understanding, and loving one’s family, even when our families are complicated and painful. It’s a beautiful reminder of the power of storytelling and the profound connection of kinship.”

~ Paola Mendoza, author, organizer and filmmaker