Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

The Senator in the Delta

Smyrna native Ellen B. Meacham chronicles Robert F. Kennedy’s crusade against poverty

In Delta Epiphany, Ellen B. Meacham chronicles Robert F. Kennedy’s 1967 visit to the Mississippi Delta, which spurred his efforts to eradicate hunger in America. Meacham will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on June 27.

Read more

Red-State Disneyland or Bastion of Equality?

Graham Hoppe examines the cultural implications of Tennessee’s beloved theme park

Graham Hoppe’s Gone Dollywood explores the theme-park juggernaut, the genius behind Dolly Parton’s stardom, and the effect of Pigeon Forge’s culture on Appalachian identity.

Read more

A Cinephile’s Brilliant Friend

In People Only Die of Love in Movies, editor Steve Haruch collects some of the best film writing by the late Jim Ridley

The late Nashville Scene film critic and editor Jim Ridley wrote about movies with dazzling insight, humor, and honesty. In People Only Die of Love in Movies editor Steve Haruch has collected some of the best of Ridley’s work.

Read more

Josiah Rising

Jared A. Brock’s The Road to Dawn tells the story of the real “Uncle Tom”

Jared A. Brock’s The Road to Dawn traces the harrowing story of Josiah Henson’s journey from slavery to world-wide fame as “the real Uncle Tom.” Brock will discuss the book at Novel in Memphis on June 5.

Read more

Written in a Fever

Songwriter Billy Edd Wheeler’s Hotter Than a Pepper Sprout, is a beguiling tale of an astonishing life

In Hotter Than a Pepper Sprout, songwriter Billy Edd Wheeler chronicles his life from Depression-era Appalachia to Yale, New York, and Nashville. Told with charm and detail, his story celebrates creativity and a well-lived life

Read more

Her Father’s Words

Tara Westover’s memoir is an excruciating account of her escape from fundamentalism

Tara Westover’s Educated joins the ranks of fearless modern-day memoirs of abuse and adversity such as Cheryl Strayed’s Wild and Jeannette Walls’s The Glass Castle. Westover will appear at Lipscomb University in Nashville on May 21 at 6:30 p.m.

Read more
TAKE THE SHORT READER SURVEY! CHAPTER 16 SURVEYOR SURVEYING