Nonfiction | Chapter 16

Cooking for the Occasion

Patsy Caldwell and Amy Lyles Wilson organize their recipes by what life calls for

By Serenity Gerbman | November 23, 2010

November 23, 2010 The first sign of Southern originality in Bless Your Heart: Saving the World One Covered Dish At A Time comes right in the table of contents. Authors Patsy Caldwell and Amy Lyles Wilson haven’t created chapters based upon the course or the main ingredient, as most cookbooks are arranged. Rather, chapters are drawn from everyday life experiences because there truly is a proper type of dish for every occasion. From book-club meetings to family reunions, the two authors provide a wealth of Southern standby recipes for the home cook to enjoy and, more importantly, to share. Caldwell and Wilson took the time to answer a few questions from Chapter 16 about their first collaboration.

The Italian Job

In Steve Hendricks’s new book, terrorism and spycraft make for nonfiction that reads like a le Carré novel

By Michael Ray Taylor | November 17, 2010

November 17, 2010 “A spy prefers to share only that which is to his benefit, no more, and much of what he shares will not be true,” cautions the journalist Steve Hendricks in an early chapter of A Kidnapping in Milan: The CIA on Trial. “This presents a conundrum for all who would understand espionage: Trust spies not at all, and one learns nothing. Trust them too much, and one might as well have learned nothing.” In researching his new nonfiction thriller, Hendricks, a freelance reporter living in Knoxville, appears to have trusted spies just the right amount, interviewing them on three continents over the course of two years. He clearly learned a great deal—not only about spies, but also about the terrorists they seek to catch by any means they deem necessary.

Riffing on the River

In Lee Sandlin’s eclectic new history, it’s a treat to beat your feet in the Mississippi mud

By Michael Ray Taylor | November 5, 2010

November 5, 2010 Lee Sandlin’s Wicked River is a wickedly funny new history of the great Mississippi, whose violent, profane, drunken, calamitous, hypocritical character is perhaps an archetype of the American character itself. Sandlin will discuss Wicked River at Davis-Kidd Booksellers in Memphis on November 9 at 6 p.m.

Family Pride

Condoleezza Rice owes it all—her determination, her success, her quiet dignity—to her parents

By Anne Delana Reeves | November 2, 2010

November 2, 2010 John and Angelina Rice groomed their only child for an exceptional life. Condoleezza Rice’s new memoir, Extraordinary, Ordinary People, lovingly dedicated to her parents and her grandparents, is the former secretary of state’s testament to their strong values, “hard work, perfectly spoken English,” and, most importantly, their unrelenting focus on education. Her college-educated parents, Rice asserts, “were convinced that education was a kind of armor shielding me against everything—even the deep racism in Birmingham and across America.” Rice will discussExtraordinary, Ordinary People at Davis-Kidd Booksellers in Memphis on November 3 at 6 p.m.

Building Stories

Robin Hood and James A. Crutchfield take readers on an architectural tour of Tennessee history

By Joe Nolan | November 1, 2010

November 1, 2010 It’s no mistake that the word history holds the word “story” within it. A new kind of history recorded by a pair of accomplished Middle Tennesseans— Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Robin Hood and James A. Crutchfield, author of fifty books—isn’t a dreary textbook full of forgettable facts, and it doesn’t feature the ponderous tones of an overbearing expert guiding you through predictable, well-worn paths of the Volunteer State’s bygone days. The pair recently spoke with Chapter 16 about their new book, Historic Nashville, which benefits the Tennessee Preservation Trust.

Cool with the Lines

Eighties pop phenomenon Rick Springfield is back in the headlines with a tell-all memoir

By Fernanda Moore | October 21, 2010

October 21, 2010 Late, Late at Night, Rick Springfield’s tell-all memoir, opens with a seventeen-year-old Rick swinging from a noose, convinced his life is not worth living. Happily for Rick, as well as for the zillions of fans who would, in the 1980s, fall in love not only with his endlessly catchy parade of hit singles like “Jessie’s Girl,” but also with Dr. Noah Drake, the sexy character he played to perfection on the venerable soap opera General Hospital, the noose gave way just in time. Springfield talked with Chapter 16 prior to his Nashville and Murfreesboro appearances on October 22 and 23.

Driving the Tide (The After Dunkirk Series, Book 6)

By Lee Jackson
Severn River Publishing
444 pages
$19.99

“Driving the Tide is the riveting sixth installment in the After Dunkirk family saga, bringing to life the darkest pages of World War II―and the unflinching bravery of regular people who rose to the challenges of their times.”

~ the publisher