Chapter 16 - Part 618

Redemption Song

Andrew B. Lewis follows the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee and its leaders from Nashville’s north side into the heart of Dixie

By Lyda Phillips | December 3, 2009

A group of earnest and thoughtful Nashville students became leaders in one of history’s most impressive—and successful—mass movements, as they threw their bodies, their very lives, on the line to end segregation in the South. The Shadows of Youth: The Remarkable Journey of the Civil Rights Generation, by Andrew B. Lewis,, is a new look at this era, examining it through the lens of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee and its leaders—Diane Nash, John Lewis, Bob Moses, Stokely Carmichael, Marion Barry, Bob Zellner, and Julian Bond.

The Widower of the South

In A Separate Country, Robert Hicks takes a turn around war-scarred New Orleans with the Confederate general who searched for redemption there

By Lacey Galbraith | November 19, 2009

Robert Hicks dreams big. In A Separate Country, his new novel, he re-imagines in 400-plus pages the life and last days of the mythic John Bell Hood, former general of the Confederate States of America. This sort of endeavor is only natural for a man whose first novel was The New York Times bestseller The Widow of the South and who is now leader of Franklin’s Charge: A Vision and Campaign for the Preservation of Historic Open Space. Hicks has never shied from the big task, whether fighting the Herculean sprawl of Williamson County or imagining the thoughts of a legendary figure.

Cormac McCarthy Breaks His Silence

What’s new in Tennessee books—and at Chapter 16—on November 19, 2009

By Margaret Renkl | November 19, 2009

Cormac McCarthy gives a rare interview, Amanda Little heads to Copenhagen to cover the United Nations Climate Change Conference, Sam Venable is inducted into the East Tennessee Writers Hall of Fame, and the Nashville Public Library Foundation rakes in the dough.

Fearless Fighter for an Ignoble Cause

Madison Smartt Bell writes a fictional biography of the deeply flawed Confederate warrior Nathan Bedford Forrest

By Maria Browning | November 19, 2009

The subject of Madison Smartt Bell‘s Devil’s Dream is enough to send a lot of readers—even Bell’s fans—running for the exits. A hefty novel on Confederate hero Nathan Bedford Forrest may not be an alluring prospect, unless you happen to belong to the dwindling cohort of folks who go misty-eyed when they hear “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.” From its first paragraphs, however, Devil’s Dream defies expectations, combining meticulous research and vivid accounts of warfare with a complex character study of the South’s dubious hero. On November 20 at 7 p.m., Madison Smartt Bell will discuss Devil’s Dream at Davis-Kidd Booksellers in Nashville.

That Close

A high-school cheerleader gets up close—but a long way from personal—with Stokely Carmichael during the March Against Fear in Memphis 1966

By Lyda Phillips | November 19, 2009

In the first week of June 1966, Stokely Carmichael was in Memphis. Chairman of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee and a veteran of the civil-rights trenches, he had been arrested repeatedly since 1961’s Freedom Rides. At 24, he was becoming frustrated with the pace of change, doubtful it could be achieved without violence. In the first week of June 1966, Stokely Carmichael was days away from breaking with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., days away from raising his fist as he emerged yet again from prison in Greenwood, Mississippi, and making his famous speech advocating “Black Power.”

In the first week of June 1966, in Memphis, I was a high-school cheerleader.

Not Far from the Tree

Cash biographer Michael Streissguth follows Rosanne as she records a cathartic album

By Paul McCoy | November 19, 2009

In 1973, Johnny Cash gave his daughter Rosanne a list of 100 songs, many from the Southern tradition, that he thought a young musician was obligated to know. Always Been There tells the inside story of the album that, more than thirty-five years later, she finally made from “the list.” Based on interviews conducted in the studio, at home in New York City, and on tour in Europe, Always Been There chronicles the both the making of an iconic album and the remarkable career of one of popular music’s most gifted singer-songwriters.

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