Facts tend to lose the battle with myths, but Peter Guralnick keeps fighting the good fight for the truth in The Colonel and the King: Tom Parker, Elvis Presley, and the Partnership that Rocked the World. Guralnick will discuss the book at Graceland in Memphis on August 15 and Parnassus Books in Nashville on August 20.
With the Pulitzer Prize-winning King: A Life, Jonathan Eig has written the definitive biography of Martin Luther King Jr. for this generation. Eig will discuss King: A Life at the 2025 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, October 18-19.
Brian Kwoba’s Hubert Harrison: Forbidden Genius of Black Radicalism examines the life and legacy of an activist, intellectual, and journalist who challenged the status quo on race, politics, capitalism, and romantic relationships.
From the Fiery Furnace to the Promise Land by Serina K. Gilbert and Learotha Williams Jr. chronicles the history of an extraordinary Tennessee community through the stories of its formerly enslaved founders and their descendants. The authors will discuss the book at the Tennessee State Museum in Nashville on September 13.
In How College Presidents Succeed, Michael Nelson extracts wisdom from three generations of a family known as “Virginia’s academic dynasty.”
For Barbara Presnell, the loss of her father at age 14 would lead to a decades-long period of repressed mourning, resulting in depression and estrangement from her family. Her memoir, Otherwise, I’m Fine, recounts the pain of that time and how retracing her father’s steps during World War II brought her peace and a renewed relationship with her family.
