Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

Not Just Another Word

Jefferson Cowie explores the troubling history of racist anti-statism in the South

FROM THE CHAPTER 16 ARCHIVE: With Freedom’s Dominion, Jefferson Cowie spins a dark, intricate tale of white, racist, anti-statist ideas of freedom in Alabama, revealing a sprawling history of white resistance to federal power. The book recently received the 2023 Pulitzer Prize in history.

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The Myth and the Man

Jonathan Eig’s King: A Life captures the civil rights leader in his full humanity

With King: A Life, Jonathan Eig has written the definitive biography of Martin Luther King Jr. for this generation. Eig will discuss King: A Life at Parnassus Books in Nashville on June 1.

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Arguing For Democracy

Vanderbilt philosophers Scott F. Aikin and Robert B. Talisse discuss their handbook for political disagreement

FROM THE CHAPTER 16 ARCHIVE: In Why We Argue (and How We Should), Vanderbilt University philosophy professors Scott F. Aikin and Robert B. Talisse set ground rules for the kind of productive, democratic disagreement that they say is fundamental to a civil life. 

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Memories of Massacre

Historians Beverly Bond and Susan O’Donovan illuminate a tragic chapter in Memphis history

FROM THE CHAPTER 16 ARCHIVE: With Remembering the Memphis Massacre, a collection of essays by notable historians, editors Beverly Bond and Susan O’Donovan bring to light a forgotten chapter in Southern history and explain how it shaped the future of American democracy. 

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A Celebration of Everything Alive and Whole

U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón on music, animals, and the chaotic joy of spring

Chapter 16 talks with Ada Limón, a poet whose work is grounded in the physical world, delighting in nature and urging readers toward curiosity and wonder. Limón will appear at Green Door Gourmet Farm in Nashville on May 4.

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Extinguishing Shadows

Leta McCollough Seletzky’s The Kneeling Man explores the complex story behind an iconic photograph

In The Kneeling Man, Leta McCollough Seletzky tells the story of her father, an undercover policeman who posed as a Black militant during the 1968 sanitation strike in Memphis.

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