Hoop Dreams — and Nightmares
In Memphis Hoops, Keith B. Wood examines how basketball promoted racial unity in Memphis, while also reflecting the city’s persistent prejudices. It centers around Larry Finch, a local legend as both player and coach.
Q&A
Politics for Christians
Former Tennessee governor Bill Haslam does a deep dive into the two subjects not fit for polite conversation in Faithful Presence: The Promise and the Peril of Faith in the Public Square. Haslam, also the former mayor of Knoxville, outlines a way of approaching the role of religious faith in the hardball arena of politics. He will appear at the online 2021 Southern Festival of Books.
Spanks for the Memories
In Sadomasochism and the BDSM Community in the United States, University of Memphis historian Stephen K. Stein explains how a sexual community organized itself and found wider acceptance.
The Comedy of Empathy
From the Chapter 16 archive: “Doubt is essential to the writing life,” Andrew Sean Greer says. “If you only had arrogance, you’d write a book that’s all ego.”
The Body as Storyteller
From the Chapter 16 archive: “When I was a kid, I loved any kind of historical drama. I loved being transported to different worlds, historical or fantastical.” Fiction writer—and new Memphis transplant—Chanelle Benz talks with Chapter 16.
The Choice Either to Wail or Smile
From the Chapter 16 archive: Chattanooga-area novelist Tim Gautreaux talks about the pitfalls of regionalism, the influence of James Dickey and Flannery O’Connor, the challenges of writing short fiction, and the imperatives of religious faith.
