Nathaniel Philbrick examines the life and treason of Benedict Arnold
Nathaniel Philbrick’s Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the Fate of the American Revolution is a grand adventure into the darkness of the human heart, the story of a man whose name is synonymous with “traitor.” Philbrick will discuss and sign Valiant Ambition at the East Tennessee History Center in Knoxville on May 16 at 7 p.m.
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A dime-store scrapbook preserves priceless seventy-year-old memories
“Stayed here on our wedding night,” is the first entry in the scrapbook. Accompanying her text is a linen-paper postcard of the Hayes Hotel in Jackson, Michigan. My parents spent an entire month driving to California and back, a lengthy journey even today, and a grand expedition in the 1940s, before the wide availability of air conditioning and the franchising of America.
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Daniel L. Mallock finds timely lessons in the friendship of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson
In Agony and Eloquence: John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and a World of Revolution, Nashville writer Daniel L. Mallock details the breakup and later renewal of the friendship between two beloved founders. Mallock will sign Agony and Eloquence at the Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Cool Springs on February 11 at 1 p.m. and at Books-A-Million in Nashville on March 26 at 3 p.m.
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Michael Sims investigates the very real origins of the greatest fictional detective
With The Story of Charlotte’s Web and The Adventures of Henry Thoreau, Michael Sims invented what amounts to a new genre: the biography of a particular book. In Arthur and Sherlock: Conan Doyle and the Creation of Holmes, he follows literary and historical clues to identify the origins of the most famous fictional detective in the world.
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Annette Gordon-Reed and Peter S. Onuf demystify a founding father
Most Blessed of the Patriarchs: Thomas Jefferson and the Empire of the Imagination by Annette Gordon-Reed and Peter S. Onuf explores the ideas, times, and misconceptions about a founding father often described as indecipherable. Gordon-Reed will appear at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 14-16.
James Lee McDonough exposes the many contradictions of William Tecumseh Sherman
William Tecumseh Sherman: In the Service of My Country: A Life is James Lee McDonough’s detailed look at a brilliant, multi-faceted soldier who never hesitated to visit the hell of war on his enemies. McDonough will appear at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 14-16, 2016.
