Nonfiction | Chapter 16

Book Excerpt: Clay Risen’s American Whiskey, Bourbon & Rye

Picking out the notes in a good sipping whiskey can take a little practice

By Clay Risen | October 17, 2013

October 17, 2013 Chapter 16’s own Clay Risen, author of A Nation on Fire: America in the Wake of the King Assassination, will launch his new book, American Whiskey, Bourbon & Rye, at a whiskey-tasting event at Barista Parlor in East Nashville October 25, 2013, at 7 p.m. Tickets are $35 and include a copy of the book. All proceeds benefit Humanities Tennessee. Today Chapter 16 is publishing an excerpt from the book, as well as Q&A with Risen, but to get a real taste for American Whiskey, Bourbon & Rye, you’ll need to reserve your spot at Barista Parlor by clicking here.

A Neat Shot

With American Whiskey, Bourbon & Rye, Clay Risen chronicles the rebirth of a lost national craft

By Michael Ray Taylor | October 17, 2013

October 17, 2013 The new book by Chapter 16’s own Clay Risen, American Whiskey, Bourbon & Rye, covers the history of American whiskey and investigates current practices in the industry. It also offers profiles, ratings, and tasting notes for over 200 whiskeys. Risen will launch the book at a whiskey-tasting event at Barista Parlor in East Nashville October 25, 2013, at 7 p.m. Tickets are $35 and include a copy of the book. All proceeds will benefit Humanities Tennessee.

David and Goliath in Reverse

In The Snail Darter and the Dam, Zygmunt J.B. Plater recalls his landmark case against TVA

By Clay Risen | October 16, 2013

October 16, 2013 There was a time, not too long ago, when you could tell a lot about a Tennessean by his thoughts on the snail darter. The three-inch-long fish, a member of the perch family, lives in certain reaches of Chickamauga Creek and the Sequatchie River, both in East Tennessee. It used to live in the Little Tennessee River, too, until the Tennessee Valley Authority built the Tellico Dam, which destroyed the steady stream of fresh water that the fish needed to survive. In The Snail Darter and the Dam, Zygmunt J.B. Plater, the UT law professor who led the challenge to TVA, tells the full story.

The Demon Brain

Susannah Cahalan talks with Chapter 16 about a rare disorder that took her away from her loved ones and herself

By Faye Jones | October 10, 2013

October 10, 2013 In Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness, Susannah Cahalan recounts her battle against a rare neurological disorder that threatened her life and her very identity. Having no memory of this period, Cahalan used her skills as a journalist to recreate the effects the disease had on her and her loved ones.

Of Flight and Flappers

Bill Bryson’s One Summer: America, 1927 chronicles five eventful months of popular history

By Michael Ray Taylor | October 9, 2013

October 9, 2013 Nonfiction author Bill Bryson is legendary for his ability to mine a readable story from a vast subject. In a twist, Bryson’s new book, One Summer: America, 1927, takes a deceptively narrow focus, describing events that occurred over a five-month period in Jazz Age America—but what a summer 1927 proved to be. Bryson will appear at the twenty-fifth annual Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 11-13, 2013. All festival events are free and open to the public.

The Joy of Difficult Love

For Andrew Solomon, the real goal of love is to embrace difference

By Beth Waltemath | October 1, 2013

October 1, 2013 In Far from the Tree: Parents, Children and the Search for Identity, National Book Award winner Andrew Solomon explores the depths of love as he researches the connection between parents and exceptional children. Today he talks with Chapter 16 about his own journey to parenthood and “the epic narratives of resilience” that shaped his book. Andrew Solomon will appear at the twenty-fifth annual Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 11-13, 2013.

Red Dead's History: A Video Game, an Obsession, and America's Violent Past

By Tore C. Olsson
St. Martin's Press
288 pages
$30

“I recommend Red Dead’s History unreservedly not only to fans of the iconic video game, but also to anyone who wants to understand the riotousness — from Wild West gunslingers to Jim Crow to lynching — that darkened our past, and which continues to influence our culture. Olsson’s prose is graceful, his analysis profound. This is history at its most accessible and exciting.”

~Peter Cozzens, award-winning author of A Brutal Reckoning