Nonfiction

“This book establishes that Horton Foote’s characters and themes come from Wharton, Texas, a region influenced more by the Deep South than the cowboy tradition of West Texas. But these interviews also establish that such stories are not place-specific. They are universal stories about going away and the eternal search of emotional and spiritual homes. Foote’s stories are revealed as reflecting the dislocation, loneliness, racial tension, and gender and class divisions of the United States.”

“Vigorously written, brave, and candid . . . a deeply moving, instructive account of embattled lives and loves striving for order in the face of a heartbreaking mental illness.”

“Creation Story explores parallels and intersections in the works of Dial and his fellow Alabamians, the remarkable quilters of Gee’s Bend. In the tradition of African American cemetery constructions and yard art, these artists harness the tactile properties and symbolic associations of cast-off materials in creating an art of profound beauty and evocative power. Produced against a backdrop of poverty and racism, these artworks have an appeal that crosses aesthetic, social, and geographical boundaries, earning them wide recognition as being among the most compelling art of our time.”

“Auto Zone Park, arguably the best minor-league baseball park built in the past 25 years, is nestled in a corner of downtown Memphis. Located across the street from the historic Peabody Hotel and two blocks from Beale Street, Auto Zone opened in 2000 to rave reviews. It is the phoenix that rose from the ashes of Russwood Park. Baseball enthusiasts remember Russwood and the players who roamed the field, like Dazzy Vance, one-arm Pete Gray, Big Klu, and Moonlight Graham. Images of Baseball: Baseball in Memphis highlights the history of the Chicks and the Redbirds and pays homage to the original amateur Chickasaws, the Red Sox, and the Blues.”

“Gregg Allman didn’t sell his soul to the devil. But if he had, the transaction would probably rate just a paragraph toward the back of his new memoir, My Cross to Bear, sandwiched between an ode to motorcycles and a two-sentence account of his fourth marriage. The Southern blues-rocker, who’s played off and on with the Allman Brothers Band since 1969, has experienced many born-under-a-bad-sign moments. His story includes overdoses, emergency surgeries and rehab stints; six wives and five children (not necessarily from his marriages); and myriad suicides, murders and fatal crashes. As fans know well, older brother Duane died in a motorcycle wreck in 1971, and bassist Berry Oakley perished the same way at almost the same spot a year later. Cynics might say this is routine rock-bio stuff. The weird thing is that Allman seems to agree.”

“Images of America: Millington, the town’s first photographic history, presents people, places, and events–great and small–that have contributed to the community’s success.”