Nonfiction

August 3, 2011 Philip Ratcliffe was enthralled with the music of Mississippi John Hurt from the moment he first heard one of Hurt’s recordings in 1970. After a trip to Mississippi in 2003, Ratcliffe decided to document Hurt’s life. It took six years of research and writing, but Ratcliffe finally completed the first biography of the legendary blues artist. Mississippi John Hurt: His Life, His Times, His Blues chronicles the man’s musical career and captures his warm, unaffected character. Ratcliffe will discuss and sign his biography at The Booksellers at Laurelwood in Memphis on August 4 at 6 p.m.

July 25, 2011 Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, which he delivered from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the 1963 March on Washington, is widely considered among the greatest speeches in American history and a high point of the civil-rights movement. But its deserved fame has long obscured the hundreds of thousands of people who also participated in the march: black teenagers from Alabama, white ministers from Kansas, celebrities from Hollywood, and activists from Harlem, all of them gathered in a peaceful demonstration for equal rights unlike anything ever seen in America. In Nobody Turn Me Around: A People’s History of the 1963 March on Washington, newly out in paperback, Charles Euchner, a Chattanooga native and graduate of Vanderbilt University, has written the story of that day from the perspective of these important, if anonymous, participants in the march. Chapter 16 recently spoke with him by phone.

July 18, 2011 For Jeni Britton Bauer, the creative force behind Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, butterfat is a blank canvas on which to explore a palette of exotic, tantalizing flavors: Salty Caramel, Wildberry Lavender, Cherry Lambic, Bangkok Peanut (cayenne pepper, coconut, honey, and peanut-butter ice cream). Her first store outside of her home state of Ohio opened in Nashville a few weeks ago, coinciding with the publication of her first cookbook, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams At Home. The book, which has made The New York Times bestseller list, explains how to make foolproof versions of Jeni’s fabulous flavors at home. It also reveals a business firmly in step with current food trends: artisanal production and locally sourced, farm-fresh ingredients. Bauer will demonstrate recipes and sign copies of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home at Williams-Sonoma in the Mall at Green Hills in Nashville on Thursday, July 21, at 3 p.m.

July 6, 2011 Not many infants receive recording contracts from legendary producers on the day they’re born, but exceptions are made when the child in question is the only daughter of George Jones and Tammy Wynette, country music’s “First Couple.” In her new memoir, The Three of Us: Growing Up with Tammy and George, Georgette Jones offers an intimate portrait of her life with her storied parents and on her own. She will discuss the book at Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Brentwood on July 12 at 7 p.m.