Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

Aram Goudsouzian

Mississippi Murder

Historian Trent Brown unpacks the meaning of the 1969 murder of a young girl

In Murder in McComb, Trent Brown revisits the killing of 12-year-old Tina Andrews, investigating both the crime and its larger meaning. Brown will discuss the book at Novel in Memphis on February 25.   

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Smoke Across the Sea

Nan Enstad challenges myths of capitalism in Cigarettes, Inc.

The traditional portrayal of global capitalism places the white, male American entrepreneur at the center of the story. In Cigarettes, Inc., a history of the cigarette industry that spans from the U.S. South to China, Nan Enstad upends that idea. Enstad delivers the Belle McWilliams Lecture in American History at the University of Memphis on February 20.

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The Ghost Hunter

Investigative reporter Jerry Mitchell cracks cold cases from the civil rights movement

Race Against Time, written in the gripping style of a crime thriller, describes how crusading investigative reporter Jerry Mitchell helped to deliver justice in long-ago murders of civil rights activists. Mitchell will speak about his book at Novel in Memphis on February 12 and at Parnassus Books in Nashville on February 24

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The Challenge of Antiracism

Historian Ibram X. Kendi confronts our racist culture — and looks inward

In How to Be an Antiracist, historian Ibram Kendi argues that defeating racism is a conscious choice that requires thoughtfulness and discipline. Kendi will discuss the book at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis on October 23 and at the University of Memphis on October 24.

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Courting Jim Crow

Steve Luxenberg chronicles the characters behind Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court decision that sanctioned racial segregation

In Separate, Steve Luxenberg provides a rich, multi-layered narrative of race in 19th-century America, culminating with the landmark Plessy v. Ferguson case. Luxenberg will discuss Separate at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville on October 11-13.

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Race, Rights, and Reconstruction

Daniel Brook chronicles the shifting status of mixed-race elites in the 19th-century South

In The Accident of Color, Daniel Brook tells the revealing story of the mixed-race elite in Charleston and New Orleans during the 19th century. Brook will appear at Novel in Memphis on June 27 at 6:00 p.m.  

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