Joel Ebert, Erik Schelzig: Non-fiction; Tennessee Political History
HistoryAlthough Tennessee has a rich history of political scandals dating back to the founding of the state, the last fifty years have been a confusing, confounding, and sometimes ludicrous period of ne'er-do-welling. Welcome to Capitol Hill is a guide to the state's modern history of corruption.
RS Deeren, Brooks Lamb: Fiction, Non-Fiction
FictionThrough sharing lessons from determined Tennessee farmers and stories from rural Michigan, writers explore how where we come from shapes who we are.
Timothy Egan: Non-Fiction, American History
HistoryA historical thriller by the Pulitzer and National Book Award-winning author that tells the riveting story of the Klan's rise to power in the 1920s, the cunning con man who drove that rise, and the woman who stopped them.
Rob Curran, Saket Soni: Non-Fiction, Immigration
Non-FictionFailed immigration policies, forced labor, and changing migration are explored through stories of people who have lived the experiences. Journalists steeped in years of reporting share their knowledge, and signs of hope.
Frye Gaillard: Non-Fiction, Nashville
Non-FictionFor years, the legendary John Seigenthaler hosted A Word on Words on Nashville's public television station, WNPT. During the show's four-decade run (1972 to 2013), he interviewed some of the most interesting and most important writers of our time. These in-depth exchanges revealed much about the writers who appeared on his show and gave a glimpse into their creative processes. Seigenthaler was a deeply engaged reader and a generous interviewer, a true craftsman. Frye Gaillard and Pat Toomay have collected and transcribed some of the iconic interactions from the show.
Kat Calvin: Non-Fiction, Activism
Non-FictionA trailblazing activist's passionate and incisive look at why she started a movement to ensure that 26 million Americans have access to the IDs they need to escape poverty and live healthy and productive lives
Bryan Giemza, Dennis McCarthy: Fiction, Non-Fiction
FictionJoin the brother of the late Cormac McCarthy and scholar Bryan Giemza to discuss the acclaimed novelist's work and legacy and the bond between two brothers and writers.
Tracy Kidder: Non-Fiction, Social Justice
Non-FictionThe powerful story of an inspiring doctor who made a difference by helping to create a program to care for Boston's homeless community, by the Pulitzer Prize-winning, New York Times bestselling author of Mountains Beyond Mountains.
Alice Carrière, Lynn Melnick: Essays, Memoir
EssaysThese two essay collections explore the artist's life, a bohemian upbringing, and the challenges of finding your voice as an artist.
Karren Pell, Randy Rayburn: Non-Fiction, Nashville
Food cultureCelebrate 35 years of Midtown Cafe with proprietor Randy Rayburn. This memoir includes stories and recipes from legendary restaurants Rayburn's Sunset Grill and Midtown Cafe (recently awarded by USA Today as one of the Top 100 Places to Brunch.)
Margaret Renkl: Essays
EssaysFrom the beloved New York Times opinion writer and bestselling author of Late Migrations comes a "howling love letter to the world" (Ann Patchett); a luminous book that traces the passing of seasons, personal and natural.
Fitz Brundage, James Rice, Natalie Ring, Charles Reagan Wilson: Non-Fiction, American History
HistoryThrough new works, Southern scholars re-evaluate the history, myth, and culture of the region.
Peter Cozzens: Non-Fiction, American History
HistoryThe story of the pivotal struggle between the Creek Indians and an insatiable, young United States for control over the Deep South, from the acclaimed historian and prize-winning author of The Earth is Weeping.
Robert P. Jones: Non-fiction, American History
HistoryTaking the story of white supremacy in America back to 1493, and examining contemporary communities in Mississippi, Minnesota, and Oklahoma for models of racial repair, The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy helps chart a new course toward a genuinely pluralistic democracy.
Kami Ahrens, Sarah Beth Childers: Non-Fiction, Appalachia
Non-FictionThe threads connecting Appalachia are explored through the lives of women across generations.
Kem Hinton: Non-Fiction, Architecture
Non-FictionThe architect of the Tennessee Bicentennial Mall and many other significant buildings in Nashville shares insights about his work and his legacy.
Fergus Bordewich: Non-Fiction, American History
HistoryA stunning history of the first national anti-terrorist campaign waged on American soil--when Ulysses S. Grant wielded the power of the federal government to dismantle the KKK.
Bill Carey, Keel Hunt: Non-Fiction, Tennessee
HistoryTalking Tennessee history with two experts. Carey and Hunt share stories of storied and lesser-known moments and people in Tennessee history.
Jefferson Cowie: Non-Fiction, American History
Non-FictionAn "important, deeply affecting--and regrettably relevant" (New York Times) chronicle of a sinister idea of freedom: white Americans' freedom to oppress others and their fight against the government that got in their way. Cowie won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction for this book.
Mignon François, Memoir
Memoir"All you have is all you need" is the life lesson entrepreneur Mignon François learned as she turned the $5 she had to feed her family dinner for the week into a multi-million-dollar bakery brand. With no experience and no recipe for success, or cake for that matter, her path was truly made from scratch.
Robert Mugge: Non-Fiction, Documentary Film
MusicMusic filmmaker Robert Mugge has directed three-dozen nonfiction films, a majority of them explorations of traditional American music. In his new memoir, Notes from the Road: A Filmmaker’s Journey through American Music, he describes the making of 25 of his key films, and in this hourlong presentation, he and Nashville-based music journalist Ron Wynn will screen clips from Mugge’s riveting portraits of Sun Ra, Al Green, Sonny Rollins, and Rubén Blades (with Linda Ronstadt) and discuss his approaches as both filmmaker and author. According to critic Ken Tucker on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross, “The stories he tells go well beyond anecdotes about musicians. He opens us up to the whole world of documentary filmmaking. Notes from the Road is the best thing I’ve read about what it’s like to direct films since Sidney Lumet’s 1996 classic, Making Movies.” And in a “starred review,” Kirkus Reviews calls Mugge's memoir, “A vibrant, entertaining panorama of music-making and the picaresque struggle to capture it on film.”
Jerome Moore: Non-Fiction, Social Justice
Non-FictionDeep Dish Conversations began as a running online interview series in which host Jerome Moore sits down over pizza with Nashville leaders and community members to talk about the past, present, and future of the city and what it means to live here.
Linda Behrend, T.R.C. Hutton: Non-Fiction, Knoxville
Non-FictionExplore Knoxville, Tennessee through stories of prominent women in its history and the University of Tennessee.
Tamika Y. Nunley: Non-Fiction, American History
HistoryDemonstrating how crimes, convictions, and clemency functioned within a slave society that upheld the property interests of white Virginians, Nunley reveals the frequency with which owners preferred to keep the accused in bondage, which allowed them, behind the veil of paternalism, to continue to benefit from Black women's labor.
Jane Lopes, Jonathan Ross: Non-Fiction, Wine
Food cultureThe landscape of Australian wine is cracking with new energy and historic traditions that make it one of the most exciting wine-producing countries in the world right now. But the scholarship on Australian wine hasn't always matched the output. How to Drink Australian corrects that.
Yasmine Ali, Rachel Louise Martin, Emily Strasser: Non-Fiction, Tennesee History
Non-FictionA fire that led to the founding of FEMA. A school desegregation in a small Tennessee town. The secret community that helped build the atomic bomb. These gripping true stories make Tennessee history come alive.
Brian Fairbanks: Non-Fiction, American History
HistoryJournalist Brian Fairbanks explores how the final showdown between David Duke and Edwin Edwards in November 1991 led to a major shift in our national politics, as well as the rise of the radical right and white supremacist groups, and how history repeated itself in the 2016 presidential election. The story of these political "wizards," almost forgotten by history, remains eerily prescient and disturbingly relevant, and a compulsive page-turner.
Mary Gauthier, Kevin Griffin, Ruta Sepetys: Essays, Creativity
EssaysCreativity is not a talent. The lead singer of a famous rock band, a bestselling and beloved Young Adult author, and a Grammy-nominated songwriter share their journeys with creativity, and how you can explore yours.
Jonathan Abrams, Langston Wilkins: Music, Hip Hop
MusicThe music that would come to be known as hip-hop was born at a party in the Bronx in the summer of 1973. Now, fifty years later, it's the most popular music genre in America.
Suzanne Craig Robertson: Non-Fiction, Death Penalty
Non-FictionDeeply poignant and astonishingly personal, this "moving story of a death in Tennessee" (Bill Moyers) shows hope can endure, grace can redeem, and humanity can exist--even in the darkest of places