Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

Crime and Punishment (and Race)

James Forman Jr. discusses his Pulitzer-winning book on mass incarceration, Locking Up Our Own

In Locking Up Our Own, James Forman Jr. intertwines policy and personal experience in a powerful account of crime and race in Washington D.C. Forman will discuss the book upon accepting the annual book award from the Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change at the University of Memphis on January 31.

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Opening the Black Box

A routine DNA test upends Dani Shapiro’s sense of identity

Dani Shapiro was unprepared for a routine DNA test’s stunning revelation: that her beloved father was not a biological relative. Her new memoir, Inheritance, tracks the fallout of these results, one surprising revelation after another. Shapiro will discuss Inheritance at Parnassus Books in Nashville on January 30.

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Leaving White Supremacy

Eli Saslow’s Rising Out of Hatred recounts one man’s confrontation with his own racism

In Rising Out of Hatred, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Eli Saslow tells the story of Derek Black, a former white nationalist who now speaks out against racism. Saslow will give a free public lecture at the University of Memphis on January 23.

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Double Album, Double World

In That Thin, Wild Mercury Sound, Daryl Sanders documents the making of Bob Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde

In That Thin, Wild Mercury Sound, Nashville music journalist Daryl Sanders painstakingly and reverently narrates the making of Bob Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde, offering a window into the creative process of a genius and the crucial influence of Dylan’s Nashville collaborators in producing a singular work of art.

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A Flawed Hero in Tumultuous Times

Preston Lauterbach’s Bluff City looks at the strange legacy of a civil-rights figure who worked as an FBI spy

Preston Lauterbach considers both the bravery and seeming treachery of a civil-rights photojournalist and FBI informant in Bluff City: The Secret Life of Photographer Ernest Withers. Lauterbach will appear at Novel in Memphis on January 14.

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A Wee Dram of Brilliance

Clay Risen conquers all things Scotch in Single Malt

With Single Malt: A Guide to the Whiskies of Scotland, New York Times whiskey critic and longtime Chapter 16 contributor Clay Risen has created an essential guide to Scotch for “almost everyone.”

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