Nonfiction

June 5, 2012 In Born to Battle, historian Jack Hurst looks at the Civil War through the commanders of both Confederate and Union forces. The crucial campaigns in the western theater, at Shiloh, Vicksburg, and Chattanooga, were bloody and muddled, with leadership errors on both sides, often a result of the egos and ambitions of the generals, and the antagonisms, jealousies, and mini-wars between them. Hurst will discuss Born to Battle at Burke’s Book Store in Memphis on June 14 at 5:30 p.m. and at Parnassus Books in Nashville on August 5 at 2 p.m.

June 4, 2012 In Blood Feud, New York Times-bestselling author Lisa Alther examines an unsavory bit of American history: the nineteenth-century feud between the Hatfield and McCoy families, residents of the Tug Fork Valley on the border of Kentucky and West Virginia. As a metaphor for divisive behavior, the Hatfields and McCoys have been ubiquitous in the American popular imagination for more than a hundred years. Featured in everything from song lyrics to children’s cartoons, they serve as the prototypes for the stereotypically ignorant, uncivilized, and violent “hillbilly” character of page, stage, and screen. In Blood Feud, Alther separates the truth from the tall tales. She will appear at Union Ave. Books in Knoxville on June 12 at 6 p.m.

May 23, 2012 Colin Powell has spent over a half century as a leader. Now he wants to share the lessons he learned in all those years of working to inspire and manage people. In his latest book, It Worked for Me: In Life and Leadership, Powell passes along words of wisdom that would normally be handed down in private conversations between mentor and protégé. In providing examples both small and large, including those involving the controversies surrounding the war with Iraq, Powell has created a hybrid that is part memoir and part how-to book. Powell will appear in an onstage conversation with former Newsweek editor Jon Meacham on May 30 at 7 p.m. at Belmont University’s Massey Concert Hall. The event is part of the Salon@615 series.

May 17, 2012 In a book that is part scientific history (in the mode of Holly Tucker’s Blood Work) and part international quest (a la National Treasure or The DaVinci Code), Andrea Wulf circumnavigates the globe with a story of Enlightenment-era derring-do. Wulf will read from and discuss Chasing Venus at the Nashville Public Library on May 24, as part of the Salon@615 series. The event will begin with a reception at 6:15 p.m., followed by a reading at 6:45. Both are free and open to the public.

May 9, 2012 Loretta Lynn’s rise to fame epitomizes the quintessential American dream, but with a uniquely Appalachian slant. A coal miner’s daughter who was, as her number-one hit explains, “born in a cabin on a hill in Butcher Hollow,” Lynn married at thirteen and had four children by eighteen. Despite this far-from-glamorous beginning, she has recorded sixteen number-one hits and sent seventy songs up the country charts. And at age seventy-seven, she continues to write and record crafted, heartfelt songs. It’s only fitting that Loretta Lynn’s newest memoir tells the story of her life through the medium that made her famous: her songs. In Honky Tonk Girl: My Life in Lyrics, Lynn collects 300 of her lyrics, glossing many of them with anecdotes that explain their genesis. Loretta Lynn will appear at the Ryman Auditorium on May 10 at as part of Opry Country Classics.