Nonfiction | Chapter 16

Brother Bill?

Daryl A. Carter reckons with the ambivalent racial legacy of President Bill Clinton

By Peter Kuryla | August 1, 2016

In Brother Bill: President Clinton and the Politics of Race and Class, historian Daryl A. Carter considers several critical episodes in the Clinton years, taking measure of the forty-second President’s racial policies and thinking, separating fact from fiction and history from memory. Carter will appear at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 14-16. All festival events are free and open to the public.

A Noble Lunacy

Through the story of a break-in at Oak Ridge, Dan Zak’s Almighty explores the tensions of the atomic age

By Aram Goudsouzian | July 15, 2016

In July 2012 three protesters, including an elderly nun, broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. In Almighty, Washington Post reporter Dan Zak uses their story to illuminate a movement of dissenters against nuclear weapons. Zak will discuss the book at the East Tennessee History Center Auditorium in Knoxville on August 4, 2016, at 7 p.m.

Yes, Please

Robert G. Netherland serves up a generous helping of Appalachian farm cooking

By Susannah Felts | June 30, 2016

June 30, 2016 In his memoir and cookbook, Southern Appalachian Farm Cooking, native East Tennessean Robert G. Netherland reveals the textures and tastes of a bygone time and place, one where White Lily flour reigned supreme, butter was churned, tobacco crops provided extra cash for Christmas presents, and beans and cornbread were the basis of daily meals.

Good Dog

With Smoky Jack, a lost classic of nature writing is finally published after ninety years

By Michael Ray Taylor | June 27, 2016

June 27, 2016 In the summer of 1925, a young man from Knoxville named Paul Adams established the first permanent camp atop Mt. Le Conte in what would eventually become Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Smoky Jack, written by Adams from his journals, has now been edited and published for the first time. Knoxville editors Ken Wise and Anne Bridges will discuss and sign copies of Smoky Jack at Union Ave. Books in Knoxville on July 10, 2016, at 2 p.m.

The Birth of Black Power

Historian Aram Goudsouzian talks with Chapter 16 about the fiftieth anniversary of James Meredith’s March Against Fear

By Clay Risen | June 2, 2016

June 2, 2016 As Aram Goudsouzian recounts in his book Down to the Crossroads, the Meredith March Against Fear represented a crucial turning point in civil-rights history. In commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the march, Goudsouzian will discuss Down to the Crossroads at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis on June 9, 2016, at 6 p.m.

Jane Austen and the Reformation

May 23, 2016

“Moore’s beautifully researched, original, and compelling work of scholarship provides a full and nuanced account of the nostalgia for Catholic monasteries evident in Austen’s work. The book is revelatory, and will open the eyes of many a reader to Austen’s deep game of historical and cultural critique.”

–Laura Mooneyham White, University of Nebraska

Camilla and the Caterpillars

By Frances Figart, illustrated by Matt Brass
Smokies Life
68 pages
$14.95

A young girl’s encounter with an extraordinary caterpillar in the Great Smoky Mountains leads her and her family on a quest to plant a national park right in their own backyard.

This environmentally themed chapter book for ages 6 through 11 introduces young readers to important ecological concepts including habitat loss and the interdependence of native species and offers a compelling grassroots solution through native-plant gardening that invites anyone to take part in addressing the growing biodiversity crisis.

~the publisher