Nonfiction
Critical Reading
John Kaltner’s focused analysis of Islam’s sacred text offers insight and corrects misunderstandings
by Paul V. Griffith
February 10, 2011According to John Kaltner, most Americans have no idea what’s in the Qur’an, Islam’s sacred text. That doesn’t stop many of them from having an opinion, however. The Muslim faith is regularly denigrated as inherently sexist, violent, and inflexible. In an effort to correct such misunderstandings, Kaltner, a professor of Muslim-Christian relations at Rhodes College in Memphis, has written Introducing the Qur’an for Today’s Reader, a critical reading of the Qur’an that focuses on some of the text’s more controversial themes.
Published Friday, 10 February 2012
My Life as a Ghost
Eddie and Taj George needed a ghostwriter; Rob Simbeck was their man
by Rob Simbeck
February 7, 2012 When Eddie and Tamara George wanted to write a book about the keys to a happy marriage, their publisher matched them with longtime ghostwriter Rob Simbeck. The Georges will discuss Married for Real: Building a Loving, Powerful Life Together at Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Brentwood on February 7 at 7 p.m., and at the Kroger in Hermitage on February 8 at 6 p.m. In an essay for Chapter 16, Simbeck tells the story behind their story.
Published Tuesday, 7 February 2012
Ambassador to Hell
David Scheffer gives a firsthand account of bringing war criminals to justice
by Maria Browning
February 6, 2012 David Scheffer served as the first-ever U.S. ambassador-at-large for war-crimes issues, an office sometimes referred to by his colleagues as “Ambassador to Hell.” In All the Missing Souls, Scheffer gives a firsthand account of the political and diplomatic struggle to form international courts of justice for what he calls “atrocity crimes,” and provides vivid accounts of his own encounters with the survivors of unimaginable brutality. David Scheffer will discuss All the Missing Souls in Nashville at noon on February 7 in the Flynn Auditorium of the Vanderbilt University Law School. The event is free and open to the public.
Published Monday, 6 February 2012
Holy War, Popular War
In a comprehensive history of the First Crusade, Jay Rubenstein weighs in on Apocalyptic fever, the advent of chivalric warfare, and the power of popular religion
by Paul V. Griffith
January 31, 2012 Of all the sayings about history––it’s one damned thing after another; it’s written by the winners, it’s doomed to repeat itself––none is more incriminating than the one attributed to Lenin: A lie repeated often enough becomes the truth. Knoxville historian Jay Rubenstein takes this phenomenon into account in Armies of Heaven: The First Crusade and the Quest for Apocalypse.
Published Tuesday, 31 January 2012
Europe’s Bloody Borderlands
Timothy Snyder talks with Chapter 16 about the peoples and territories trapped between Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia during the 1930s and 1940s
by Tim Boyd
January 24, 2012 In the bestselling Bloodlands, which has been critically acclaimed and widely translated, Timothy Snyder argues that the systematic killings in the Nazi death camps were part of the same arc of violence as the mass starving inflicted on the Ukraine by the Soviets in the 1930s and the extra-legal killings perpetrated by Germans and Russians alike during their occupation of Poland, Ukraine, and the Baltic States. Snyder answered questions from Chapter 16 prior to his appearance at the University of Memphis on January 26 at 6:30 p.m. in the UC Theater.
Published Tuesday, 24 January 2012
An Original Take on an American Original
Prize-winning historian Sean Wilentz provides a fresh perspective on Bob Dylan
by Paul McCoy
January 17, 2012 Few musical artists in the last century are as revered and reviled, discussed and dissected as Bob Dylan. With an eclectic career spanning fifty years, Dylan provides an astonishingly deep well of material for writers and critics to explore—and explore they have, though rarely to such critical acclaim as the work of Sean Wilentz has received. With The New York Times bestseller Bob Dylan in America, now out in paperback, Wilentz provides a unique series of takes on specific periods in Dylan’s life and work, including his time in Nashville. He answered questions from Chapter 16 by email.
Published Tuesday, 17 January 2012
The People’s Philosopher
Noam Chomsky talks with Chapter 16 about the Occupy movement, the language of popular culture, and Gen Y
by Paul V. Griffith
January 12, 2012 During the mid-60s, Noam Chomsky’s theory of universal grammar changed forever the debate about language acquisition and provided philosophers and psychologists a new way to think about the human mind. Chomsky’s work had political implications, too, and he has emerged as one of the left’s most implacable voices, challenging the often hidden structures that lie behind the abuse of power. Noam Chomsky will discuss the Occupy Movement in a talk at Rhodes College in Memphis on January 13 at 5 p.m.
Published Thursday, 12 January 2012
Every Picture Tells a Story
William B. Jones Jr. presents the second edition of his exhaustive history of Classics Illustrated
by Tina LoTufo
January 10, 2012 The publication of the first edition of Classics Illustrated: A Cultural History in 2001 was met with great appreciation among fans of mid-century comic books and comic-book artists. In the second edition, William B. Jones Jr. has incuded more than a hundred additional pages of historical facts, interviews, photos, and illustrations from the original comics, including full-color plates of iconic covers in the series. Jones calls them “as much a part of growing up in postwar America as baseball cards, hula hoops, Barbie dolls, or rock ‘n’ roll.”
Published Tuesday, 10 January 2012
A Remarkable Life
Robert K. Massie’s biography shows the human side of Catherine the Great, Russia’s brilliant eighteenth-century monarch
by Fernanda Moore
January 9, 2012 In his new biography, Catherine the Great, Portrait of a Woman, Robert K. Massie (author of the bestselling Nicholas and Alexandra and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Peter the Great) follows the legendary Russian monarch’s splendid trajectory from powerless teenage girl to brilliant ruler. Massie, a former Nashville resident, recently spoke by phone with Chapter 16 about Catherine’s fascinating life—and even more fascinating character—prior to his Nashville appearance as part of the Salon@615 series. Massie will discuss Catherine the Great on January 15 at the Nashville Public Library. The event will begin with a reception at 2:15 p.m., followed by the author talk at 3. Both are free and open to the public.
Published Monday, 9 January 2012
“A Biography Its Subject Deserved”
Critics loved Michael Sims's new biography of E.B. White
by Margaret Renkl
December 15, 2011 Despite the appearance this year of The Penguin Book of Victorian Women in Crime, and the imminent arrival of The Dead Witness, his two most recent forays as an editor, for Michael Sims 2011 was unarguably the year of The Story of Charlotte’s Web. This slim volume—a biography not so much of E.B. White as of the book for which he is best remembered—has found its way onto best-of-the-year lists all over the media, and inspired rhapsodic reviews. Today Chapter 16 surveys the praise:
Published Thursday, 15 December 2011
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