A Publication of Humanities Tennessee

An All-American Movement

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.

An All-American Movement

Rehabilitating Butterfat

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.

Rehabilitating Butterfat

A Love Letter to Charlotte

July 11, 2011 Since its publication in 1952, Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White has sold more than forty-five million copies and continues to be counted among the most beloved and bestselling children’s books of all time. In his beautifully written, thoughtful, and thought-provoking new book The Story of Charlotte’s Web: E.B. White’s Eccentric Life in Nature and the Birth of an American Classic, Michael Sims views the life of E.B. White through the prism of the classic he created. Sims will discuss and sign The Story of Charlotte’s Web on July 16 as part of the Salon@615 series. Arrive at 10 a.m. for a free continental breakfast followed by the reading.

Growing Up with the Joneses

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.

Growing Up with the Joneses

The Hopeful Pessimist

July 1, 2011 In Clarence Darrow: American Iconoclast, historian Andrew E. Kersten focuses on the legendary attorney’s inconsistencies and his uncanny ability to reconcile sometimes contradictory impulses. Darrow championed many unpopular causes, dumbfounding his progressive friends and empowering his conservative enemies, but he remained at heart an attorney of the people, concerned more with preserving individual liberties and tilting at institutional windmills than with maintaining a consistent philosophy. Kersten shows Darrow to be a gifted jurist who isn’t afraid to get his hands muddy in the service of his clients.

Sex and Gasoline and Brilliant Prose

June 23, 2011 People know him from songs like “Sex and Gasoline,” “Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight,” and “I Ain’t Living Long Like This,” but singer-songwriter and Nashvillian Rodney Crowell also tested the literary waters this year with his memoir, Chinaberry Sidewalks, and the reviews have been spectacular.

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