Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

Supremes and Extremes

Daniel Kiel analyzes race, citizenship, and education through the lenses of Thurgood Marshall and Clarence Thomas

In The Transition, University of Memphis law professor Daniel Kiel tracks the experiences and ideas of the first two Black Supreme Court justices, Thurgood Marshall and Clarence Thomas. Kiel will discuss the book at Novel in Memphis on April 13.

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Remembrances of Knoxville Past

Linda Behrend revives Anne Armstrong’s stories of her adopted hometown in the late 1800s

Anne Wetzell Armstrong’s reminiscences of Knoxville at the end of the 19th century have been edited by Linda Behrend in the newly published Of Time and Knoxville: Fragment of an Autobiography. Behrend will discuss Armstrong’s life and memoir at Historic Westwood in Knoxville on April 13.

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Stronger Stuff

Hang the Moon brings feminism to the Prohibition era — and it’s a wild ride

In Jeannette Walls’ new novel Hang the Moon, a Prohibition-era woman steps out of her father’s shadow and creates a brave new world. Walls will discuss her book on April 4 at Parnassus Books in Nashville.

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On Account of Sex

In The Woman’s Hour, Elaine Weiss dissects the battle for women’s right to vote

FROM THE CHAPTER 16 ARCHIVE: Elaine Weiss’s The Woman’s Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote is a riveting history of the battle to secure voting rights for American women. 

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A World Beyond

Alan Lightman considers the origins of spirituality in The Transcendent Brain

In his latest book, The Transcendent Brain, physicist and novelist Alan Lightman explores the biological and evolutionary sources of our most profound mystical experiences.

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The Root of a Person

Light to the Hills tells a story of bringing literacy and light to impoverished people

Light to the Hills contains many of the traditional elements of Appalachian life — tales of moonshine and cock fighting, feuds and floods, coal mining and snake handling — but in Bonnie Blaylock’s lyrical prose, they come alive in a new way to tell a powerful story of family ties, mountain ways, and mountain justice. Blaylock will sign her book at Linebaugh Public Library in Murfreesboro on April 5.

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