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Knox Pods

Knox County Public Library

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Library programs on a variety of topics―mostly book and author talks―and some Knoxville, Tenn. history.

Knox Pods

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Anna Laura Reeve and William Shakespeare

Anna Laure Reeve was born and raised in Knoxville, and she earned a Master of Arts in Literature & Poetry Writing from the University of Tennessee. Her poems have appeared in Terrain.org, Jet Fuel Review, Another Chicago Magazine, and many others. She recently won Beloit Poetry Journal’s Adrienne Rich Award, and she was a finalist for the Heartwood Poetry Prize and the Ron Rash Award in Poetry. Her book Reaching the Shore of the Sea of Fertility was recently published by Belle Point Press. She is an assistant editor of Juke Joint, a literary magazine based in Jackson, Mississippi. William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, most likely in April of 1564. When he was 18, he married Anne Hathaway with whom he had three children. Shakespeare made his living as an actor and playwright, and his works include 38 plays in addition to 154 sonnets and various other types of poetry. Shakespeare died on April 23, 1616. Links: Read an early version of "Tennessee Red Cobb" at Appalachia Bare Read "Méniére's Disease" at The Racket Read "Look at Everything" and "Children of Asylum Seekers" at The Racket Read "That time of year thou mayst in me behold (Sonnet 73)" at Poets.org Read "When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes (Sonnet 29)" at Poets.org Anna Laura Reeve Anna Laura Reeve's website "Poets in Conversation: Anna Laura Reeve" at Beloit Poetry Journal Two Poems from Reaching the Shore of the Sea of Fertility by Anna Laura Reeve at ACM "Motherhood Unshorn: A Review of Reaching the Shore of the Sea of Fertility" at Literary Mama William Shakespeare Bio and poems at Poets.org "Shakespeare's Life" at Folger Shakespeare Library's site The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Mentioned in this episode: KnoxCountyLibrary.org Thank you for listening and sharing this podcast. Explore life-changing resources and events, sign up for newsletters, follow us on social media, and more through our website, www.knoxcountylibrary.org. Rate & review on Podchaser

Pauletta Hansel and Edna St. Vincent Millay

Pauletta Hansel is the author of nine collections of poetry, including her latest book Heartbreak Tree. Her work has been featured in Oxford American, Rattle, American Life in Poetry, and Poetry Daily, among others. Hansel was Cincinnati’s first Poet Laureate, and she was the 2022 Writer-in-Residence for The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County. Edna St. Vincent Millay was born in Rockland, Maine in 1892. Along with her many books of poetry, Millay published plays, a libretto called The King’s Henchman, and she wrote short stories for popular fiction magazines under the pseudonym Nancy Boyd. She was the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize in poetry. Links: Read "I Take My Mother with Me Everywhere" and "After" Read "Postcard from Age 60" at Braided Way Read "Recuerdo" at The Poetry Foundation Pauletta Hansel Pauletta Hansel's website "The Road" at Poetry Daily "The City" at Appalachian Review "May 1, 2020" in The Oxford American "Palindrome" at Still: The Journal Video: "Meet our 2022 Writer-In-Residence" Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library Edna St. Vincent Millay Bio and poems at The Poetry Foundation Bio and poems at Poets.org The Millay Society's Audio Archives Mentioned in this episode: KnoxCountyLibrary.org Thank you for listening and sharing this podcast. Explore life-changing resources and events, sign up for newsletters, follow us on social media, and more through our website, www.knoxcountylibrary.org. Rate & review on Podchaser

The Beat: Gary Metras and Simon Perchik

Gary Metras is a retired high school English teacher and college writing instructor. His poems have appeared in America, The Common, Poetry, and many others. Metras has published eight books, including his latest called Vanishing Points. His book Marble Dust is forthcoming from Cervena Barva Press. Metras was the founder, editor, and letterpress printer of Adastra Press, a venture that for forty years specialized in limited editions of poetry chapbooks. In 2018, Metras was appointed the inaugural Poet Laureate of Easthampton, Massachusetts. Simon Perchik's poems have appeared in The Nation, Poetry, The New Yorker, and many others. He was born in 1923 in Paterson, New Jersey. During World War II, he joined the Army Air Corps, flew 35 missions overseas, and reached the rank of first lieutenant. Thanks to the GI Bill, Perchik attended New York University where he earned a bachelor’s degree and a law degree. He practiced law for 25 years before becoming an assistant DA for Suffolk County and its first environmental prosecutor. He was a prolific writer, and he published more than thirty books of poetry. A November 2000 issue of Library Journal called Simon Perchik “the most widely published unknown poet in America.” Perchik died on June 14, 2022, in New York City. Links: Read "The Engagement" and "Lint" at The Poetry Foundation Read "Another Winter" Read "3" and "482" Gary Metras "April 6, 2022" at One Art "Two Poems by Gary Metras" at Flyfishing and Tying Journal "Art Maker: Gary Metras, Poet" at Daily Hampshire Gazette "In Studio: Gary Metras" by Easthampton Media (via YouTube) Simon Perchik "Simon Perchik, Poet" in The Easthampton Star "Five Poems" at the Poetry Foundation Poems at Poetry Northwest Poems at Plume "Two Untitled Poems" at The Inflectionist Review Mentioned in this episode: KnoxCountyLibrary.org Thank you for listening and sharing this podcast. Explore life-changing resources and events, sign up for newsletters, follow us on social media, and more through our website, www.knoxcountylibrary.org. Rate & review on Podchaser

The Beat: Sara Moore Wagner and H.D.

Sara Moore Wagner is the winner of the 2021 Cider Press Review Editors Prize for her book Swan Wife and the 2020 Driftwood Press Manuscript Prize for Hillbilly Madonna. She has published two chapbooks, Tumbling After (Red Bird Chapbooks) and Hooked Through (Five Oaks Press). She won the 2022 Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award, a 2019 Sustainable Arts Foundation award, and she was a 2021 National Poetry Series Finalist. Her work has appeared in Sixth Finch, Beloit Poetry Journal, Waxwing, The Cincinnati Review, Nimrod, Rhino, and others. Wagner's book Lady Wingshot, based on the life of Annie Oakley, won the Blue Lynx Prize and is forthcoming in 2024. H.D. (Hilda Doolittle) was born in 1886 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and she grew up in Upper Darby near Philadelphia. She attended Bryn Mawr and the University of Pennsylvania. H.D. published numerous books, including poetry, fiction, nonfiction, memoirs, essays, and translations. The publication of her collected and selected poetry helped to establish her as a major poet of the 20th century. H.D.’s work is revered by countless writers and critics, and she’s often thought of as a poet's poet and one of the key figures of the Imagist movement. She died in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1961. Links: Read "Purity Test" Read "Captivity Narrative" Read "Legend Says" Read "Leda" Sara Moore Wagner Sara Moore Wagner's website "Anti-Pastoral" at Sixth Finch "Passing It On" at Waxwing "Girl as a Deer Shedding the Velvet" at The Inflectionist Review "Embracing the Half-Wild Creature: A Conversation with Sara Moore Wagner" at The Rumpus "Sara Moore Wagner on 'Getting My Body Back'" at Poetry Society of America H.D. Bio and poems at The Poetry Foundation Bio and poems at Poets.org "H.D.: American Poet" in Britannica "Radical Freedom: Poets on the Life and Work of H.D." Live from the IceHouse Tonight (YouTube) Mentioned in this episode: KnoxCountyLibrary.org Thank you for listening and sharing this podcast. Explore life-changing resources and events, sign up for newsletters, follow us on social media, and more through our website, www.knoxcountylibrary.org.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the AI Galaxy, Part 4

This is the last in our four-part lunch and learn series “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the AI Galaxy” with apologies to Douglas Adams. Self-driving cars. ChatGPT. Cancer detection. Smart speakers. Robots in manufacturing… and even in our homes. AI is seemingly everywhere these days. So what does the average human need to know about the artificial intelligence that is quickly becoming part of our everyday lives? Knoxville entrepreneur and Lirio Chief Evangelist Patrick Hunt translates complex technical concepts into easily digestible, bite-sized nuggets of helpful information. In this episode recorded on May 25, Patrick examines the possible scenarios of how AI will evolve beyond what we can currently see in front of us, and some of the key questions that future generations will likely have to grapple with. A video recording of this event is available on Internet Archive. We thank Knoxville Community Media for these recordings. Music credit: "Three Stories" by Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial License Listen to Knox Pods Mentioned in this episode: KnoxCountyLibrary.org Thank you for listening and sharing this podcast. Explore life-changing resources and events, sign up for newsletters, follow us on social media, and more through our website, www.knoxcountylibrary.org. Rate & review on Podchaser

Hitchhiker's Guide to the AI Galaxy, Part 3

This is the third in our four-part lunch and learn series “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the AI Galaxy” with apologies to Douglas Adams. Self-driving cars. ChatGPT. Cancer detection. Smart speakers. Robots in manufacturing… and even in our homes. AI is seemingly everywhere these days. So what does the average human need to know about the artificial intelligence that is quickly becoming part of our everyday lives? Knoxville entrepreneur and Lirio Chief Evangelist Patrick Hunt translates complex technical concepts into easily digestible, bite-sized nuggets of helpful information. In this episode recorded on May 18, Patrick examines some of the ethical, legal, regulatory, and other issues that arise in AI applications, including concepts like the black box and explainable AI. A video recording of this event is available on Internet Archive. We thank Knoxville Community Media for these recordings. Music credit: "Three Stories" by Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial License Listen to Knox Pods

Hitchhiker's Guide to the AI Galaxy, Part 2

This is the second in our four-part lunch and learn series “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the AI Galaxy” with apologies to Douglas Adams. Self-driving cars. ChatGPT. Cancer detection. Smart speakers. Robots in manufacturing… and even in our homes. AI is seemingly everywhere these days. So what does the average human need to know about the artificial intelligence that is quickly becoming part of our everyday lives? Knoxville entrepreneur and Lirio Chief Evangelist Patrick Hunt translates complex technical concepts into easily digestible, bite-sized nuggets of helpful information. In this episode recorded on May 11, Patrick takes a more detailed look at some of the most common uses of AI that impact East Tennesseans, and a few organizations in the region innovating and deploying AI solutions in the public and private sectors. A video recording of this event is available on Internet Archive. We thank Knoxville Community Media for these recordings. Music credit: "Three Stories" by Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial License Listen to Knox Pods Mentioned in this episode: KnoxCountyLibrary.org Thank you for listening and sharing this podcast. Explore life-changing resources and events, sign up for newsletters, follow us on social media, and more through our website, www.knoxcountylibrary.org. Rate & review on Podchaser

Hitchhiker's Guide to the AI Galaxy, Part 1

This is the first in our four-part lunch and learn series “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the AI Galaxy” with apologies to Douglas Adams. Self-driving cars. ChatGPT. Cancer detection. Smart speakers. Robots in manufacturing… and even in our homes. AI is seemingly everywhere these days. So what does the average human need to know about the artificial intelligence that is quickly becoming part of our everyday lives? Knoxville entrepreneur and Lirio Chief Evangelist Patrick Hunt translates complex technical concepts into easily digestible, bite-sized nuggets of helpful information. In this episode recorded on May 4, Patrick reviews a working definition of artificial intelligence, a brief history of the technology and science behind it, and various types of AI and the use cases to which they typically apply. A video recording of this event is available on Internet Archive. We thank Knoxville Community Media for these recordings. Music credit: Three Stories by Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial License. Listen to Knox Pods Mentioned in this episode: KnoxCountyLibrary.org Thank you for listening and sharing this podcast. Explore life-changing resources and events, sign up for newsletters, follow us on social media, and more through our website, www.knoxcountylibrary.org. Rate & review on Podchaser

The Beat: Derek N. Otsuji and George Herbert

Derek N. Otsuji is the author of the book The Kitchen of Small Hours, which won the Crab Orchard Review Poetry Series Open Competition. He was also awarded the 2019 Tennessee Williams Scholarship from the Sewanee Writers’ Conference. His poems have appeared in The Southern Poetry Review, The Beloit Poetry Journal, The Threepenny Review, The Bennington Review, Harpur Palate, Missouri Review Online, and many others. He is an associate professor of English at Honolulu Community College. George Herbert was born in 1593 in Montgomery Castle, Wales. He attended Westminster School and then Trinity College, Cambridge. He was ordained as a priest and became the rector at Bemerton. He died in 1633 of consumption at the age of forty. Links: Read "Among the More Innocent Touristic Amusements of the Old Waikiki" Read "Two Boys One Fish Two Eyes" in Rhino Read "Virtue" by George Herbert" at The Poetry Foundation Derek N. Otsuji Derek N. Otsuji's website "How She Loves Music" in Pleiades. Two Poems at Terrain.org Video: "Interview with Derek Otsuji, Author of The Kitchen of Small Hours" "Theatre of Shadows" at The Poetry Foundation George Herbert Bio and poems at the The Poetry Foundation Bio and poems at Poets.org "George Herbert: British Poet" in Britannica Video: George Herbert - a Welsh-born poet, orator, and priest Mentioned in this episode: KnoxCountyLibrary.org Thank you for listening and sharing this podcast. Explore life-changing resources and events, sign up for newsletters, follow us on social media, and more through our website, www.knoxcountylibrary.org. Rate & review on Podchaser

The Beat: Maurice Manning Joins Us Live for All Over the Page!

Recorded live, April 10, 2023. In celebration of National Poetry Month, Maurice Manning joined us for Lawson McGhee Library's monthly book discussion group, All Over the Page. Hear Manning read his poems and talk about his book Bucolics. Manning also discusses more recent work including his new podcast, The Grinnin' Possum. Maurice Manning has published seven books of poetry. His first book, Lawrence Booth’s Book of Visions, won the Yale Younger Poets Award, and his fourth, The Common Man, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He teaches Transylvania University. Links: The Grinnin' Possum Podcast: Poetry Music History with Maurice Manning Eight Bucolics in VQR Bucolics XXII, XXXV, and LVIII at Art and Theology Bio and poems at the Poetry Foundation Article in Garden & Gun Interview at Plume Manning reading at the Sewanee Writer's Conference (Video) Mentioned in this episode: KnoxCountyLibrary.org Thank you for listening and sharing this podcast. Explore life-changing resources and events, sign up for newsletters, follow us on social media, and more through our website, www.knoxcountylibrary.org. Rate & review on Podchaser

The Beat: Lyn Hejinian Reads Four Poems from The Book of a Thousand Eyes

In this episode, Lyn Hejinian reads four untitled poems from The Book of A Thousand Eyes. Lyn Hejinian is a poet, translator, editor, and scholar whose literary career has been long associated with Language writing. Hejinian is the author of over twenty-five volumes of poetry and critical prose, the most recent of which are Tribunal (Omnidawn Books, 2019), Positions of the Sun (Belladonna, 2019), and a revised edition of Oxota: A Short Russian Novel (Wesleyan University Press, 2019.) Fall Creek, her latest long poem, is forthcoming from Litmus Press. A book of critical essays titled Allegorical Moments: Call to the Everyday will come out in Fall 2023 (Wesleyan University Press), and The Proposition, a critical edition of Hejinian’s uncollected early work, is forthcoming from the University of Edinburgh Press (spring 2024). She is the editor of Tuumba Press, the co-director (with Travis Ortiz) of Atelos, a literary project commissioning and publishing cross-genre work by poets, and co-editor (with Jane Gregory and Claire Marie Stancek) of Nion Editions, a chapbook press. She lives in Berkeley, California. (Photo by Doug Hall) Links: Read four poems from The Book of a Thousand Eyes Brief Interview and more at Omnidawn Press Bio and poems at Poets.org Bio and poems at the Poetry Foundation Readings, Talks, Q&As, and Lectures at PennSound Hejinian's books reviewed by Publishers Weekly Mentioned in this episode: KnoxCountyLibrary.org Thank you for listening and sharing this podcast. Explore life-changing resources and events, sign up for newsletters, follow us on social media, and more through our website, www.knoxcountylibrary.org. Rate & review on Podchaser

The Beat: Jim Minick and Robert Frost

Jim Minick is the author of two books of poetry, Her Secret Song and Burning Heaven. In addition, he’s published: Finding a Clear Path, a collection of essays; The Blueberry Years: A Memoir of Farm and Family, which won the Southern Independent Booksellers Association’s award for nonfiction; and Fire Is Your Water, a novel that won the Appalachian Book of the Year Award. Minick’s work has appeared in The New York Times, Poets & Writers, Tampa Review, Shenandoah, Orion, Oxford American, and The Sun. His latest nonfiction book, Without Warning: The Tornado of Udall, Kansas, is forthcoming next month, and his latest poetry manuscript, The Intimacy of Spoons, is forthcoming in 2024. He serves as Coeditor of Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel. Robert Frost was born 1874 in San Francisco. Though Frost attended Dartmouth College and Harvard University, he never earned a formal degree. As a young writer, Frost didn’t have much luck publishing in Americ…

The Beat: Monica Mody and Michael Madhusudan Dutt

Monica Mody was born in Ranchi, India. She holds a PhD in East-West Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies and an MFA in creative writing from the University of Notre Dame. She is the author of three poetry chapbooks, including Ordinary Annals, and two full-length books, Kala Pani, a cross-genre work, and Bright Parallel, which is forthcoming from Copper Coin. Her writing has won awards including the Sparks Prize Fellowship, the Zora Neale Hurston Award, and a Toto Award for Creative Writing. Her work has been published in Poetry International, Indian Quarterly, Almost Island, Dusie, The Fabulist, and anthologies including Future Library: Contemporary Indian Writing and The Penguin Book of Indian Poets. Poet and dramatist Michael Madhusudan Dutt was born in Bengal, India. He studied several languages and was well-versed in English and European literature. In 1861, Dutt published the epic poem Meghnadbadh Kabya, which is, perhaps, his most famous work. Between 185…

The Beat: Erin Elizabeth Smith

Erin Elizabeth Smith is the Executive Director for Sundress Publications and the Sundress Academy for the Arts. Her third full-length poetry collection, Down, was released in 2020 by Stephen F. Austin State University Press. Her poems have appeared in numerous journals, including Guernica, Ecotone, Mid-American, Tupelo Quarterly, Crab Orchard Review, and Willow Springs, among others. She earned her PhD in Creative Writing from the Center for Writers at the University of Southern Mississippi and is now a Distinguished Lecturer in the English Department at the University of Tennessee. She is the inaugural Poet Laureate of Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Links: Read "Alice Gives Advice to Dorothy" Read "February in Knoxville" and other poems by Smith at Menacing Hedge Erin Elizabeth Smith's page at Sundress Publications Two poems by Erin Elizabeth Smith at The Los Angeles Review Three poems by Erin Elizabeth Smith at The Superstition Review "Plating the Poem, Reclaiming the Story: A Conversa…

The Beat: Bernard Clay and Joseph Seamon Cotter Sr.

Bernard Clay was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and he spent most of his childhood and high school years there. He holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Kentucky, and he is a member of the Affrilachian Poets collective. His work has been published in Appalachian Heritage, The Limestone Review, Blackbone: 25 Years of the Affrilachian Poets, and various other journals and anthologies. His book English Lit was published by Old Cove/Swallow Press in 2021. He lives on a farm in eastern Kentucky with his wife Lauren Kallmeyer, an herbalist who serves as the director of Kentucky Heartwood's Forest Council. Joseph Seamon Cotter Sr. was born on February 2, 1861, in Bardstown, Kentucky, and he died in Lousiville, Kentucky in 1949. When he was just eight years old, he had to leave school to help support his family. At the age of 22, Cotter returned to his formal education and eventually served for more than fifty years as a teacher and administrator in several Louisville schools…

The Beat: GennaRose Nethercott

Just in time for Halloween! GennaRose Nethercott reads two spooky entries from the imagined bestiary 50 Beasts to Break Your Heart. GennaRose Nethercott is a writer and folklorist. Her work has appeared in The American Scholar, Bomb Magazine, Pank, The Literary Review, and others. Her first book, The Lumberjack’s Dove, was selected by Louise Glück as a winner of the National Poetry Series, and her debut novel—the modern fairytale Thistlefoot—was published last month. She tours nationally and internationally performing strange tales (sometimes with puppets in tow) and composing poems-to-order on an antique typewriter with her team The Traveling Poetry Emporium. Links: Read "Yune" and "Yslani," along with other entries from 50 Beasts to Break Your Heart, at Bomb GennaRose Nethercott's website GennaRose Nethercott on All Things Considered "Three Poems" at Pank Thistlefoot reviewed in Kirkus Reviews The Lumberjack’s Dove reviewed in Berkely Fiction Review Mentioned in thi…

The Beat: Juan R. Palomo

Juan R. Palomo is the author of Al Norte (Alabrava Press 2021). Born in Grafton, North Dakota to migrant-worker parents, Palomo grew up in South Texas and several midwestern states. He received a bachelor’s degree in art education from Texas State University and a master’s in journalism and public affairs from American University. He was a reporter, columnist, and editorial writer for The Houston Post; he covered religion for the Austin American-Statesman; and he wrote a column for USA TODAY. His poems have appeared in The Acentos Review, The Sonora Review, The Account, and others. Links: Read "The Day They Do Not Show Up" and "Life & Death in Marathon, Texas" juanzqui: Views and Ramblings by Juan Ramon Palomo “Al Norte by Juan R. Palomo is an Homage to a Family Drifting in Colors” by Anthony Isaac Bradley in Infarrealista Review “Speed Queen, North Dakota 1983” and “Noise” at Acentos Review “A Shy One” and “His Future” at The Account Mentioned in this…

The Beat: Andrea Carter Brown and John Keats

Andrea Carter Brown was born in Paterson, New Jersey. Her poems have appeared in The Gettysburg Review, Ploughshares, Birmingham Poetry Review, The Mississippi Review, and many others. She is the author of September 12, which recently won the 2022 IPPY Silver Medal in Poetry from the Independent Publishers Group. Her other titles include the The Disheveled Bed, Domestic Karma, and Brook & Rainbow. Her poems have won the Five Points James Dickey Prize, the River Styx International Poetry Prize, and the PSA Gustav Davidson Memorial Prize. She was a founding editor of the poetry journal Barrow Street, and, since 2017, she has been Series Editor of The Word Works Washington Prize. John Keats, one of the greatest of the Romantic Poets, was born October 31, 1795 in London. He published just three volumes before his death from tuberculosis at the age of 25. Some of his poems are among the most anthologized in the 20th Century, including “To Autumn,” “Ode to a Nightingale,” and “Ode…

The Beat: Linda Parsons and William Butler Yeats

Linda Parsons holds a BA and an MA in English from the University of Tennessee. She's the poetry editor for Madville Publishing and the copy editor for Chapter 16, the literary website of Humanities Tennessee. Parsons has published poems in The Georgia Review, The Iowa Review, Prairie Schooner, The Chattahoochee Review, Southern Poetry Review, Baltimore Review, and Shenandoah, among others. Her fifth poetry collection is Candescent, which was published by Iris Press in 2019. She has received grants from the Tennessee Arts Commission, the Knoxville Arts Council, was inducted into the East Tennessee Writers Hall of Fame in 2011, and she’s won the Tennessee Writers Alliance award in poetry, among other awards and honors. William Butler Yeats (1865–1939) was born in Dublin, Ireland. In addition to writing poetry, Yeats was also a playwright; he wrote 26 plays that were performed by the Irish Literary Theatre. He was politically outspoken, and, beginning in 1922, he served six years as…

The Beat: Matthew Wimberley and Herman Melville

Matthew Wimberley grew up in the Blue Ridge Mountains. He’s the author of Daniel Boone's Window and All the Great Territories. Wimberley has won the Crab Orchard Poetry Series First Book Award, the Weatherford Award, the William Matthews Prize, and his work was chosen for the 2016 Best New Poets Anthology. He's an Assistant Professor of English at Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk, North Carolina. Herman Melville (1819-1891) was born in New York City. He's best known as the author of novels like Moby Dick and White-Jacket, along with short fiction including “Bartleby, the Scrivener” and “Benito Cereno.” However, Melville spent decades writing poetry exclusively, and critics have ranked him, alongside Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson, as one of the best poets of the 19th century. Links: Read "And So It Ends with the Cry of a Nuthatch on the First Day of Spring" Read "Shiloh: A Requiem" Matthew Wimberley "The Celebrated Colors of the Local Sunsets" at Poets.org…

The Beat: Amelia Martens and Marianne Moore

Amelia Martens is the author of four chapbooks and the full-length collection The Spoons in the Grass are There to Dig a Moat. Her work has appeared in The Indianapolis Review, Cream City Review, Diode, Southern Humanities Review, Plume, Southern Indiana Review, and many others. She serves as the Associate Literary Editor for Exit 7: A Journal of Literature and Art and she co-curates the Rivertown Reading Series in Paducah, Kentucky. Marianne Moore (1887-1972) was born near St. Louis, Missouri, raised in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and she graduated from Bryn Mawr College. Early on, she worked as a schoolteacher and as an assistant at The New York Public Library. From 1925 to 1929, she was the editor of The Dial, an influential literary magazine. Her Collected Poems, published in 1951, won the Bollingen Prize, the National Book Award, and the Pulitzer Prize. Links: Read "The Apology" and "The Secret Lives of Cows" Read "A Jelly-Fish" Amelia Martens Amelia Martens’ website “Ameli…

The Beat: Ashley M. Jones and Phillis Wheatley Peters

Ashley M. Jones is Alabama's first African American Poet Laureate, and she's also the youngest. Her books are Magic City Gospel, dark // thing, and REPARATIONS NOW! She teaches creative writing at the Alabama School of Fine Arts and also at the Low Residency MFA program at Converse University. Phillis Wheatley Peters was abducted in West Africa and brought to Boston where she was sold as a slave when she was around seven year old. Her first and only book, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, was published in 1773. She was in poor health for most of her life, and she died in her early thirties. According to the Smithsonian Institute, she was the “first American slave, the first person of African descent, and only the third colonial American woman to have her work published.” Music by Chad Crouch Links: Read the poems Think of a Marvelous Thing / It’s the Same as Having Wings at Inspicio Arts "Harriet Tubman Crosses the Mason-Dixon for the First Time" at Oxford Ame…

The Beat: Joyelle McSweeney; Season 2 Intro.

Joyelle McSweeney is the author of ten books of poetry, stories, novels, essays, translations, and plays. She has won The Pushcart Prize, The Fence Modern Poets Series Award, and The Leslie Scalapino Prize for Innovative Women Performance Artists. With Carmen Maria Machado, she was the guest editor of Best American Experimental Writing 2020. With Johannes Göransson, she co-edits the international press Action Books and teaches at the University of Notre Dame. Links: Read today’s poem at BOMB: “Two Poems by Joyelle McSweeney” Joyelle McSweeney’s Website Bio and Poems at the Poetry Foundation Poems at Poets.org “Kingdom” in The New York Times Magazine “Joyelle McSweeney’s Poetry of Catastrophe” in The New Yorker “A Poetry Reading by Joyelle McSweeney in conversation with David Baker and Kendra Sullivan” Action Books, Edited by McSweeney And Johannes Göransson

The Beat: Janet McAdams

Janet McAdams is the author of the novel Red Weather and the poetry collections Feral and The Island of Lost Luggage, which won an American Book Award. Her chapbook of prose poems Seven Boxes for the Country After won the Wick Chapbook competition and was published in 2016. She teaches at Kenyon College, where she is the Robert P. Hubbard Chair in Poetry. Links: Read "Thanatoptic" Bio and poems at the Poetry Foundation "Lie" at Poem-a-Day Interview at Shenandoah’s website "______and the Elders” at Southern Humanities Review

The Beat: Jesse Graves

Jesse Graves is a Professor of English and Poet-in-Residence at East Tennessee State University. His poems have appeared in Prairie Schooner, North American Review, Southern Poetry Review, and other literary magazines and anthologies. He has published four books of poetry and his book Said-Songs: Essays on Poetry and Place is forthcoming from Mercer University Press in 2022. Graves received his PhD in English from the University of Tennessee and his MFA in Creative Writing from Cornell University. He has won the Book of the Year in Poetry Award from the Appalachian Writers’ Association and the Thomas and Lillie D. Chaffin Award for Appalachian Writing. Links: Read "In a Familiar City" and "Sage Grass Brushing Against My Shins" Jesse Graves’ website Interview with Linda Parsons at Chapter 16 YouTube reading through West Virginia Wesleyan MFA Program Summer Reading Series A collection of Jesse Grave’s poems available online Poet-to-Poet Interview: A Conversation with Jesse G…

The Beat: Bruce Alford

Bruce Alford’s work has appeared in the African American Review, Imagination & Place Press, The Comstock Review, and elsewhere. He teaches poetry at Louisiana State University. Before working in academia, he was an inner-city missionary and journalist. Links: Read "from Alford's Devotional" Bruce Alford’s website Poems at SickLit “Perfect” at Storm Cellar Review of Terminal Switching at Alabama Writers Forum

The Beat: Robert Penn Warren

Robert Penn Warren is primarily known as the author of the great American novel All the King’s Men, but he’s also a well-respected poet, and was the USA’s first Poet Laureate. Though he grew up in Guthrie, KY, he crossed the state line to go to high school in Clarksville, TN. In 1921, he began his studies at Vanderbilt University and joined a group of poets who called themselves the Fugitives. He went on to publish over 40 books, and he is the only writer to win the Pulitzer Prize for both fiction and poetry. Links: Read "Vision" and other poems by Robert Penn Warren at Poets.org Biography and poems at the Poetry Foundation Online Resources (Library of Congress Web Guide)

The Beat: Chris Tonelli

Chris Tonelli is a founding editor of the independent poetry press Birds, LLC; co-director of the NC Book Festival; and author of five chapbooks and two full-length collections of poetry, most recently Whatever Stasis (Barrelhouse Books, 2018). He works in the Libraries at NC State and is the co-owner of So & So Books in downtown Raleigh, where he lives with his wife, Allison, and two kids, Miles and Vera. Other Links: Read "Wide Bird" and "Pluto" by Chris Tonelli Bio and links at Birds, LLC Interview at NaPoWriMo.net from “A Test of Company” at poets.org

The Beat: Adelaide Crapsey

Adelaide Crapsey is best known as the inventor of the American cinquain. She was born in 1878 in Brooklyn, NY, and she grew up in Rochester. In 1903, she began to show symptoms of tuberculosis which would eventually take her life in 1914. In spite of her illness, Crapsey attended the American Academy’s School of Classical Study in Rome, and then eventually returned to the U.S. to teach at Smith College. Shortly after her death, her first book of poems was published. It was called simply Verse. Links: Read "Amaze" and "Niagra" by Adelaide Crapsey Bio and poems at the Poetry Foundation's website Adelaide Crapsey at Poets.org Cinquain.org

The Beat: Amy Wright

Amy Wright is the author of three books of poetry and six chapbooks. Wright’s essays have appeared in The Georgia Review, Fourth Genre, Ninth Letter, Brevity, and elsewhere. She has been awarded two Peter Taylor Fellowships to the Kenyon Review Writer’s Workshop, an Individual Artist Grant from the Tennessee Arts Commission, and a fellowship to Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Her nonfiction debut, Paper Concert: A Conversation in the Round, is forthcoming in 2021 from Sarabande Books. She teaches at Austin Peay State University. "Habitat" is used with permission by the author. Links: Read "Habitat" by Amy Wright Amy Wright’s website Forthcoming book: Paper Concert: A Conversation in the Round by Amy Wright "Yam Weevil” at Verse Daily “Prey,” an essay at Kenyon Review Online Review of Cracker Sonnets and interview at New Books Network

The Beat: Prince Bush

Prince Bush is an MFA student at Western Kentucky University. His poems have appeared in many literary magazines, including The Cincinnati Review, Cream City Review, Poet Lore, Pleiades, Puerto del Sol, and others. He was a 2019 Fellow at Bucknell Seminar for Undergraduate Poets and an Erastus Milo Cravath Presidential Scholar at Fisk University. "Lithium" first appeared in Pleiades; "On Truth" first appeared in Sporklet. Both poems are used with permission by the author. Links: Read "Lithium" and "On Truth" by Prince Bush Prince Bush’s Website “Middle of Protesting” at Rattle Poems at Softblow Poems at Counterclock Music: "Just A Memory Now (Instrumental)" by Chad Crouch is licensed under CC BY NC 4.0 with modifications

The Beat: David Baker

David Baker is the author and editor of 18 books, including 12 books of poetry. His most recent book is Swift: New and Selected Poems, published by W. W. Norton. Baker teaches at Denison University and he frequently serves on the faculty of the MFA program for writers at Warren Wilson College. He is the Poetry Editor of The Kenyon Review. "Swift" is used with permission by the author. Links: Read "Swift" by David Baker David Baker’s Website "Poetry That Bears Witness to a Changing Natural World,” a review of Swift: New and Selected Poems in The New Yorker Interview at Tupelo Quarterly Poems and Essays at Virginia Quarterly Review Online Swift: New and Selected Poems at Amazon.com David Baker reading at CornellCast Music: "Just A Memory Now (Instrumental)" by Chad Crouch is licensed under CC BY NC 4.0 with modifications

The Beat: Tyler Mills

Tyler Mills’ poems have appeared in The New Yorker, Poetry Magazine, The Guardian, The New Republic, and others. She’s published two books and has two chapbooks forthcoming. Mills teaches for Sarah Lawrence College’s Writing Institute and she edits The Account, an online literary magazine. Look for Tyler Mills’ books in our online catalog or call us at the Reference Desk at Lawson McGhee Library. Today's poem, "Oak," appeared in the January 2021 issue of Poetry Magazine. You can read the poem on the Poetry Foundation's website or in the links below. Links: Read "Oak" by Tyler Mills Tyler Mills’ website Bio and poems at the Poetry Foundation “The Poetic Half-Life of One Family’s Nuclear History: Tyler Mills on Her Grandfather's Role in the Bombing of Nagasaki” in Literary Hub Review of Hawk Parable at Publishers Weekly Poems at Pinwheel Poems in Blackbird Introduction, reviews, and visual art at Tupelo Quarterly Music: "Just A Memory Now (Inst…

The Beat: Cintia Santana

Cintia Santana’s work has appeared in the Best New Poets 2020 anthology, The Iowa Review, The Kenyon Review, and many other literary journals. She was awarded fellowships from CantoMundo, the Atlantic Center for the Arts, and the Djerassi Resident Artists Program. She teaches literary translation, as well as poetry and fiction workshops in Spanish, at Stanford University. Links: Read "Ode to the J" and "[F]" Cintia Santana’s Website Interview at The Kenyon Review Poems at Kenyon Review Online “Kintsugi” at Harvard Review Online Poems at Beloit Poetry Journal “Plosive” (visual poem) at Pleiades Music: "Just A Memory Now (Instrumental)" by Chad Crouch is licensed under CC BY NC 4.0 with modifications

The Beat: Maurice Manning

Maurice Manning has published seven books of poetry. His first book, Lawrence Booth’s Book of Visions, won the Yale Younger Poets Award, and his fourth, The Common Man, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Be sure to look for books by Manning in our online catalog. Links: Read "One View of Time" by Maurice Manning Bio and poems at the Poetry Foundation Article in Garden & Gun Interview at Plume Manning Reading at the Sewanee Writer's Conference (Video) Music: "Just A Memory Now (Instrumental)" by Chad Crouch is licensed under CC BY NC 4.0 with modifications

Introducing a new series: The Beat

Watch for an upcoming poetry podcast produced by Knox County Public Library. It’s called The Beat. David Orr, a poetry columnist for the New York Times Book Review, describes a common idea that some people have about poetry—that understanding it "is like solving a calculus problem while being zapped with a cattle prod." Or maybe worse, we hear people give (again quoting David Orr) "testimonials announcing poetry’s ability to derange the senses, make us lose ourselves in rapture, dance naked under the full moon, and so forth." We’ll try to avoid all of that. Each show will introduce a new poet and you’ll get to hear poems being read aloud by the poets themselves, usually. The first episode of “The Beat” will air in a couple of weeks. Please tune in for the show. And if you aren't already a subscriber, you should do that in your favorite podcast app.

Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming

Dr. Melanie Mayes shares the alarm and urgency of The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming by David Wallace-Wells in this episode of Books Sandwiched In. She explains how the author brings stark realities of our future climate into terrifying focus—the fragility of our situation and the myriad ways that our ability to survive is endangered by the climate we are creating. Wallace-Wells is a national fellow at the New America foundation and a columnist and deputy editor at New York magazine. He was previously the deputy editor of The Paris Review. Mayes is a scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory researching, among other topics, the part of the carbon cycle that takes place in soils. Music credit: "Three Stories" by Blue Dot Sessions, CC BY-NC 4.0 rfcmVqTU7M3IVtHCFfmH

Dr. Mark McGrail discusses Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America by Beth Macy for Books Sandwiched In. Macy reveals the relentless physical, structural and social forces behind the opioid crisis and how to work for the transformational change required to overcome them. Music credit: "Three Stories" by Blue Dot Sessions, CC BY-NC 4.0 8G3ofTPxvoOWfuQYlJpl

Subvert the culture of contempt

In this podcast episode, Dave Wells summarizes the key points in Love Your Enemies: How Decent People Can Save America from the Culture of Contempt. Bestselling author Arthur C. Brooks, president of American Enterprise Institute, shows that abuse and outrage are not the right formula for lasting success. Brooks offers a better way to lead based on bridging divides and mending relationships. Wells is a Tennessee state coordinator for Better Angels, a national civic movement to reduce political polarization in the United States by bringing liberals and conservatives together to understand each other beyond stereotypes, teaching practical skills for communicating across political differences. Music credit: "Three Stories" by Blue Dot Sessions, CC BY-NC 4.0

Julie Gautreau indicts profiteering prisons

In American Prison: A Reporter's Undercover Journey into the Business of Punishment, Shane Bauer weaves a deep reckoning of his experience as a prison guard together with a thoroughly researched history of for-profit prisons in America. Julie Gautreau, an attorney with the Knox County Public Defenders Community Law Office, adds local context to the issues in this discussion for Books Sandwiched In. "American Prison exposes all the moving parts of our industrialized system of incarceration: its roots in slavery, its disproportionate exploitation of minorities and the poor, the complacency of the justice system and the cynicism of the legislative bodies that use it for political leverage. American Prison is a study in everything that is wrong with American justice and American business," Gautreau said. Music credit: "Three Stories" by Blue Dot Sessions, CC BY-NC 4.0

Fracking's financial fragility

Dr. Maria Fernanda Campa considers the facts revealed in Saudi America: The Truth about Fracking and How It's Changing the World by Bethany McLean. "In addition to easy access to investment capital, the oil and gas industry enjoys the biggest subsidies of any energy sector—yes, more than renewables," Campa said. "Further, the oil and gas industry is exempted from environmental policies, such as the Clean Water Act, to facilitate and support oil and gas sector production growth rate. However, even with all these economic and political advantages, it is quite interesting to read that the fracking industry is still not generating enough cash flow to carry itself." Campa is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Institute for a Secure and Sustainable Environment at the University of Tennessee studying issues in hydraulic fracturing. Music credit: "Blue Dot Sessions" on https://www.sessions.blue, CC BY-NC 4.0

Catastrophe as an "act of human"

Dr. Kelsey Ellis drives home the point of The Cure for Catastrophe: How We Can Stop Manufacturing Natural Disasters by Robert Muir-Wood in her work on individual behavior responses to tornado warnings. In The Cure for Catastrophe, global risk expert Robert Muir-Wood argues that our natural disasters are in fact human ones. Recognizing how disasters are manufactured gives us the power to act. Ellis, Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Tennessee, is a hazard climatologist focusing on weather and climate hazards with a holistic approach in an attempt to lessen human risk. Music credit: "Blue Dot Sessions" on https://www.sessions.blue, CC BY-NC 4.0

A slow town wreck

Dr. Zach McKenney appreciates Janesville: An American Story by Amy Goldstein, calling it "a harrowing account of the human consequences of plant shutdowns and the rippling effects that they have throughout affected communities." In Janesville, Wisconsin, the nation’s oldest operating General Motors assembly plant shut down in the midst of the Great Recession. With intelligence, sympathy, and insight into what connects and divides people in an era of economic upheaval, Goldstein shows why it’s so hard in the twenty-first century to recreate a healthy, prosperous working class. "Janesville is not so much an economic treatise on deindustrialization as it is a stunning ethnography of the tragedy and resiliency of a small Midwestern town," McKenney said. McKenney is a lecturer at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville where he received his doctorate in sociology with a concentration in political economy and globalization. Music credit: "Blue Dot Sessions," CC BY-NC 4.0

Voter rights and the disenfranchised

Does every vote count? Attorneys Julie Gautreau and Tammy Kaousias grapple with the implications of data and laws that challenge voter access and representation. This podcast episode is excerpted from their remarks during the Democracy and the Informed Citizen Symposium on September 28, 2018, sponsored by Humanities Tennessee. Gautreau is a lawyer practicing with the Knox County Public Defender's Community Law Office. As an outgrowth of her work in indigent criminal defense, she has become involved with several organizations advocating for the rights of incarcerated people. Kaousias was appointed to the Knox County Election Commission as an Election Commissioner in the 2013–2015 term. She has worked for the restoration of rights for those with criminal records and advising candidates on qualification issues, in addition to her practice in the areas of real estate and entertainment businesses and ventures. Music credit: "Blue Dot Sessions," CC BY-NC 4.0

Live until you die

Dr. Rocio Huet focuses on what's most important in her assessment of Natural Causes: an epidemic of wellness, the certainty of dying, and killing ourselves to live longer by Barbara Ehrenreich. Ehrenreich describes how we over-prepare and worry too much about what is inevitable. We may buy expensive anti-aging products or cosmetic surgery, get preventive screenings and eat more kale, or throw ourselves into meditation and spirituality. But all these things offer only the illusion of control. Ehrenreich decides to focus on how to live well, even joyously, while accepting mortality. This podcast is condensed from Huet's remarks last month for Books Sandwiched In, highlighting an integrative doctor's responses to the author's main points. Music credit: "Blue Dot Sessions," CC BY-NC 4.0

Hacked! How Safe Are Our Elections?

Cliff Rodgers, Knox County Administrator of Elections, explains what happened when the county website was attacked during the May 2018 election, and what his employees do to protect the voting machines from tampering. This episode is excerpted from Rodgers' remarks (September 28, 2018) during the Democracy and the Informed Citizen Symposium sponsored by Humanities Tennessee. Music credit: "Three Stories" by Blue Dot Sessions, CC BY-NC 4.0

Brace yourself for Whiplash

Dr. Nick Geidner discusses Whiplash: How to Survive Our Faster Future by Joi Ito and Jeff Howe, who lay out the unprecedented changes in a world that is more complex and volatile today than at any other time in our history. The mind-blowing transformation in our modern existence to faster, cheaper, and smaller—combined with the immediate connectivity of billions of strangers—has created an unpredictable new world across business and culture, from the public sphere to our most private moments. The authors present nine organizing principles for navigating and surviving this tumultuous period in all facets of our lives and in our organizations. Geidner said, "I have more ambivalence and cognitive dissonance about social media than anything else in the world." Find out why in this episode. Music credit: Blue Dot Sessions CC BY-NC 4.0

What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia

If you prefer a battle hymn to an elegy, listen to historian Elizabeth Catte provide the context of her book What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia. Catte explains how Appalachia is not what you may have thought it was, and Appalachia's future doesn't have to be one of depopulation and the desperation of those left behind:I left.... moved to wherever the job market decided that I needed to go.... If the logic of exodus was correct, then my relocation would forever entitle me to be spared the sight of people weeping for their homes. It would exempt me from conversations with bank tellers about the worsening symptoms of their children's asthma. My daily commute would be forever free from the monotonous rush to roll up windows at certain mile markers. My water would be drinkable and my air would be clean. I would be paid my worth, allowed to live in productive comfort, among others allowed the same. This is not the reality that I experienced; instead, I followed the market to the pol…

Housing discrimination in public policy

Marshall Stair considers zoning and housing policy in his overview of The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein. "As the City of Knoxville turns its attention to improving the zoning code, I thought it was important for the community to take an historical look at some of the negative consequences of government regulations, specifically attempts to increase segregation," Stair said. "I hope reading and discussing The Color of Law will give us a better understanding of these harmful policies as we modify our code to increase affordability and diversity." Marshall Stair is a civil litigation attorney at the law firm of Lewis, Thomason, King, Krieg & Waldrop, P.C. and a member of City Council since 2011.

Snippets of conversation with Jon Meacham

Presidential historian and Tennessean Jon Meacham discussed his book The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels with Senator Lamar Alexander on July 8 in an event sponsored by Friends of the Knox County Public Library and Union Ave Books. In The Soul of America, Meacham helps us understand the present moment in American politics by looking back at critical times in our country’s history when hope overcame division. He tells us that what Abraham Lincoln called the “better angels of our nature” have found a way to prevail again and again during dark times throughout our country’s history. Here are excerpts from that conversation.

Taxation, a fine mess

Dr. Matt Harris discusses A Fine Mess: A Global Quest for a Simpler, Fairer and More Efficient Tax System by T. R. Reid. "Just about every economist and political figure in America agrees these days that our tax code has to be reformed," the author says. Believing we have reached a breaking point, Reid travels around the globe visiting countries like Estonia, New Zealand and United Kingdom to investigate how others tax their residents. Ultimately, he affirms his belief that the United States is capable of a radical reform for a "fairer, simpler and more efficient" tax system. Harris is an assistant professor in the University of Tennessee Department of Economics and a research assistant professor in the Boyd Center for Business and Economic Research.

The Far Away Brothers

Claudia Caballero, Executive Director of Centro Hispano de East Tennessee, responds to the book The Far Away Brothers: Two Young Migrants and the Making of An American Life by Lauren Markham. Under mortal threat by the MS-13 gang in rural El Salvador after the civil war, identical twins Ernesto and Raul fled for their lives in 2013. They met the author as students at Oakland International High School where she worked. Dozens of other students also told her their stories of how and why they came to the United States as unaccompanied, undocumented minors. “I thought I knew the immigration story from the inside, because I hear so much at work," Caballero said. "This book took me to a different, more compassionate place.”

A Land Imperiled

Dr. John Nolt introduces the themes of his book A Land Imperiled: The Declining Health of the Southern Appalachian Bioregion. The environment of Southern Appalachia is a collection of complex, interrelated systems that needs care and protection to function in full health. A Land Imperiled is a symptom-by-symptom look at several ecological issues threatening the health of the southern high country, providing examples of how the damage can be reversed to sustain ourselves and our region's natural legacy. Nolt is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Tennessee Knoxville, and the author of seven books. He spoke on June 20, 2012.

Elaine Weiss, author of The Woman's Hour

In the summer of 1920, 35 states had ratified the 19th Amendment, 12 had rejected it or refused to vote, and one last state was needed or the amendment might die. After a seven-decade crusade, it all came down to Tennessee; it was the moment of truth for the suffragists, and also for their antagonists, the "Antis." The political freedom of half of the nation was at stake. In The Woman's Hour, Elaine Weiss tells the story of the nail-biting climax of one of the greatest political battles in American history—the fight to ratify the constitutional amendment that gave women the vote. Friends of Knox County Public Library, Union Ave Books, the East Tennessee Historical Society, radio station WUOT and the Knox County Public Library hosted the evening with award-winning journalist and writer Elaine Weiss on March 8, 2018. In her remarks, Weiss asserted the relevance of the events of that summer to today's political environment.

Evolution of news (or, who's to blame)

Is the problem of fake news a new one? Is it the fault of the media, or are we all guilty? In our Truth and Consequences Symposium, panelists from the University of Tennessee's College of Communication and Information look at the history of fake news, the impact of corporate news media consolidation, and the consumption of news through social media. The panelists are Dr. Catherine Luther, Dr. Amber Roessner, and Dr. Nick Geidner.

Was Putin's rise unlikely?

Dr. Oleg Manaev evaluates the book The Man without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladmir Putin by Masha Gessen in this podcast. I'm really impressed by how Gessen's book flows on multiple tracks, tracing Putin's life back to boyhood, the story of his hometown of St. Petersburg, his KGB experience, and finally the last quarter-century of Russian history," Manaev said. "Even though many interpretations remain controversial, this book helps to understand modern Russia." Manaev is Global Security Fellow at the University of Tennessee Institute for Nuclear Security.

Racism in United States history

Dr. Victor Erik Ray discusses the categories of racist ideas explained in Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi. “Stamped from the Beginning is a transformational piece of historical scholarship," Ray said. “This work provides a critical and necessary backdrop for understanding the stunning staying power of racism and the current predicaments surrounding race relations in the United States. This book is an instant classic and fast becoming a go-to text for a deeper understanding of racism.” Ray is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Matthew Desmond's Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City details the crisis in affordable urban housing experienced here in Knoxville. Discussing the problem are four members of the Knoxville Homeless Coalition: Gabe Cline-Snell, Volunteer Ministry Center's Chief Clinical Services Officer; Misty Goodwin, Knoxville-Knox County Community Action Committee's Homeward Bound Program; Bruce Spangler, Chief Executive Officer of Volunteer Ministry Center; Lisa Higginbotham, Knoxville Homeless Management Information System data analyst.

Monumental issues

Why do some monuments provoke such powerful emotions while others are forgettable? "Monumental Issues: Thinking about Monuments in Public Spaces" is a presentation by Dr. Jeffrey H. Jackson with additional material by Dr. Ellen K. Daugherty. It provides a broader context for debates about historical monuments and the role these markers play in local communities today. Looking at monuments as both public history and public art helps us understand how we make sense of our past and what role we want our past to play in our common future. Jackson is the J.J. McComb Professor of History at Rhodes College in Memphis; Daugherty is Professor of Art History at Memphis College of Art. The program was sponsored by Humanities Tennessee. Here are links to some of the works mentioned in the recording. (If you listen in the browser, right-click and open in a new tab as these monuments are mentioned, so that you can keep listening.) * Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe * The Painted Monume…

What happens when you Google?

Dr. Diane Kelly is the Director of the School of Information Sciences at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She has numerous research publications and awards, including the Karen Spärck-Jones Award from the British Computer Society Information Retrieval Specialist Group and the Association for Information Science and Technology Research Award. For the Knox County Public Library’s Truth and Consequences Symposium on July 28, 2017, Dr. Kelly's presentation, "How We Interact with the Internet, and How it Interacts with Us," explains what search engines do and the research findings about how they influence our behavior.

Fake News, Profit-driven Media, and Confirmation Bias

New York Times best-selling author and journalist Wendell Potter has covered Congress, the White House and the Supreme Court. After a long career in health insurance public relations, he had a crisis of conscience and blew the whistle on a corrupt industry in his book Deadly Spin. His latest book is Nation on the Take. For the Knox County Public Library’s Truth and Consequences Symposium on July 28, 2017, Potter’s presentation is entitled “Fake News, Profit-driven Media, and Confirmation Bias.”

Can Knoxville plan towards health?

Stephanie Welch found bad news and good news in the book Toward the Healthy City: People, Places, and the Politics of Urban Planning by Jason Corburn. With “healthy city planning” based on participatory action, coalition building, and ongoing monitoring, Corburn hopes to address health disparities caused by the built environment and the policies that shape it. Welch was Community Development and Planning Director of the Knox County Health Department (Recorded September 19, 2012).

East Tennessee in the headlines

Jack Neely is Executive Director of the Knoxville History Project and one of Knoxville’s most popular writers. As part of the library's Truth and Consequences Symposium, he reviews the development of newspaper journalism in Knoxville and looks back at major news events in East Tennessee. Sponsored by the Jane L. Pettway Foundation and the Knox County Public Library Foundation.

Animal intelligence

"How intelligent are non-human animals? Do they have self-awareness? Do they have deep relationships with one another in ways that echo our own relationships? These kinds of questions have been asked by humans for centuries," says Dr. Todd Freeberg, Professor of Psychology and adjunct scholar in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Tennessee. He reviews Beyond Words: How Animals Think and Feel by Carl Safina.

Justice as Fairness, The Question of Stability (Part 5)

John Rawls warns against a political life dominated by dogmatic fanaticism or apathetic resignation. The University of Tennessee Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy and the Knox County Public Library invite you to participate in a study of his book, Justice as Fairness: A restatement. Each podcast episode is in a discussion format facilitated by a University of Tennessee faculty member with expertise on Rawls's work. No previous knowledge of Rawls's work is expected. This is part five, The Question of Stability, with Dr. David Reidy of the Department of Philosophy (recorded February 22, 2010).

Justice as Fairness, Institutions of a Just Basic Structure (Part 4)

John Rawls warns against a political life dominated by dogmatic fanaticism or apathetic resignation. The University of Tennessee Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy and the Knox County Public Library invite you to participate in a study of his book, Justice as Fairness: A restatement. Each podcast episode is in a discussion format facilitated by a University of Tennessee faculty member with expertise on Rawls's work. No previous knowledge of Rawls's work is expected. This is part four, Institutions of a Just Basic Structure, with Matt Deaton of the Department of Philosophy (recorded February 15, 2010).

Justice as Fairness, The Argument from the Original Position (Part 3)

John Rawls warns against a political life dominated by dogmatic fanaticism or apathetic resignation. The University of Tennessee Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy and the Knox County Public Library invite you to participate in a study of his book, Justice as Fairness: A restatement. Each podcast episode is in a discussion format facilitated by a University of Tennessee faculty member with expertise on Rawls's work. No previous knowledge of Rawls's work is expected. This is part three, The Argument from the Original Position, with Dr. Iris Goodwin of the College of Law (recorded February 8, 2010).

Justice as Fairness, Principles of Justice (Part 2)

John Rawls warns against a political life dominated by dogmatic fanaticism or apathetic resignation. The University of Tennessee Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy and the Knox County Public Library invite you to participate in a study of his book, Justice as Fairness: A restatement. Each podcast episode is in a discussion format facilitated by a University of Tennessee faculty member with expertise on Rawls's work. No previous knowledge of Rawls's work is expected. This is part two, Principles of Justice, with Dr. Otis Stephens of the College of Law (recorded February 1, 2010).

Justice as Fairness, Fundamental Ideas (Part 1)

John Rawls warns against a political life dominated by dogmatic fanaticism or apathetic resignation. The University of Tennessee Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy and the Knox County Public Library invite you to participate in a study of his book, Justice as Fairness: A restatement. Each podcast episode is in a discussion format facilitated by a University of Tennessee faculty member with expertise on Rawls's work. No previous knowledge of Rawls's work is expected. This is part one, Fundamental Ideas, with Professor Joseph Cook of the College of Law (recorded January 25, 2010).

Preserving the future

Kim Trent, Executive Director of Knox Heritage, surveys the trends of preservation and how they're playing out in Knoxville in this discussion of Past and Future City: How Historic Preservation is Reviving America’s Communities by Stephanie Meeks and Kevin C. Murphy. “Stephanie Meeks makes a compelling case for creating great cities through historic preservation and she shares strategies that can guide us along the way,” Trent said. “She also addresses the challenges we all face in preservation since the work touches on so many aspects of our communities: history, economics, urban planning, diversity, transportation, affordable housing, sustainability, architecture, real estate, and government among many others. But for those who value history, architecture and sustainable communities, the rewards are definitely worth the struggle and make success all the sweeter and more meaningful.”

Dr. Rebecca Klenk shares her appreciation of Bad Feminist: Essays by Roxane Gay. "Provocative, gut wrenching and hilarious, Roxane Gay's Bad Feminist is a strikingly insightful collection of essays on life and popular culture for our times," Klenk said. "Engaging everything from The Hunger Games to rape culture to competitive scrabble to her favorite color (pink) to trigger warnings with verve and razor-sharp wit, Gay blends intimate personal narrative and astute cultural analysis into a powerful statement on the relevance of feminism."

Valiant Ambition

Friends of the Knox County Public Library, Union Ave Books, the Knox County Public Library, and the East Tennessee Historical Society present an evening with award-winning author Nathaniel Philbrick discussing his book Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the Fate of the American Revolution. (Recorded May 16, 2017. The audio quality improves about three minutes into this recording.)

Is history past? Octavia Butler's Kindred

Dr. Michelle Commander and panelists Tatia Harris, Andrew Swafford, and Renee Kesler respond to the neo-slave narrative Kindred by science fiction writer Octavia Butler. Kindred follows Dana Franklin, a Black woman of 1970s California, who is transported back in time to the plantation of her ancestors, a white slaveowner and the freeborn woman he buys. Dana struggles to survive the brutality and understand all of her kindred and the complexities of the communities they inhabit. Published in 1979, Kindred is taught in high school and college classes.

Relentless forces and bootstraps

Sam Venable shares anecdotes and some personal reactions to Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and a Culture in Crisis by J. D. Vance in this episode of the Books Sandwiched In podcast (edited from his January 25 remarks). This compelling memoir looks at the struggles, attitudes and dysfunction in an economically declining area of America. Vance was born in rural eastern Kentucky, but grew up largely in Rust Belt Ohio. Although his grandparents succeeded in generational upward mobility—they moved north for manufacturing jobs that are now disappearing—the family continued to struggle in the middle class with the same issues that they had tried to leave behind. A newspaper columnist and author of twelve books, Venable is a native of Knoxville and a graduate of the University of Tennessee. He has won more than three dozen national and regional writing awards, including the national feature writing award from the Society of Professional Journalists for his 2014 series, "Fragments o…

Regulating and liberating speech around the world

Dr. Stuart Brotman discusses Free Speech: Ten Principles for a Connected World by Timothy Garton Ash in this episode of Books Sandwiched In. Ash offers a deeper understanding of issues such as corporate control of communication, influence of money, role of whistle blowers, possible threats to national security, and more. "Today, there is a great power struggle over the shape, terms and limits of global freedom of expression that is raging around us—both inside the smartphones in our pockets and inside our heads," Brotman said. Dr. Brotman is Distinguished Endowed Professor in the School of Journalism and Electronic Media at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He also serves as a Nonresident Senior Fellow in the Center for Technology Innovation at The Brookings Institution in Washington, DC, and on the Global Internet Freedom Advisory Council of The Media Institute.

Race and poverty at school

Jackie Clay and Ronni Chandler discuss the education reforms proposed in the book Rac(e)ing to Class: Confronting Race and Poverty in Schools and Classrooms by H. Richard Milner. "Both poverty and race are impacting the educational experiences of our most vulnerable and marginalized students who depend on school for so much more than academic success," Chandler said. Clay is an instructor with the University of Tennessee College of Social Work, and Chandler works with Project GRAD Knoxville.

The new battleground for voting rights

Tammy Kaousias discusses the book Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America by Ari Berman, which details the struggle and increasingly intense backlash against the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Kaousias says “this struggle is going on right now, and each one of us is a living participant and creator of this historical struggle.” Kaousias was appointed to the Knox County Election Commission as an Election Commissioner in the 2013–2015 term. Her legal work includes the area of restoration of rights for those with criminal records and advising candidates on qualification issues.

The dope on a gangster's confession

When Jimmy Hoffa said to Frank Sheeran "I heard you paint houses," they both understood the code—to paint a house is to kill a man. Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett gives his take on the book "I Heard You Paint Houses": Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran and the Inside Story of the Mafia, the Teamsters, and the Last Ride of Jimmy Hoffa by Charles Brandt (recorded October 19, 2016). This compelling history presents Sheeran's deathbed confession as a ruthless man who was not just a high official of the Teamsters Union, but also a Mafia assassin. Mayor Burchett has served as Mayor of Knox County since 2010, after serving in the Tennessee legislature (House and Senate) for 16 years. (This book was published in 2004 as "I Heard You Paint Houses": Frank "the Irishman" Sheeran and Closing the Case on Jimmy Hoffa. The 2016 updated edition may have the alternate title above.)

Dr. Annette Mendola responds to Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande in this podcast of a Books Sandwiched In program (recorded June 22, 2016). Dr. Mendola comments, "The American healthcare system has ardently pursued heroic, lifesaving technologies. It has been less invested in helping people preserve the things that matter most to them in life, such as mobility, relationships, meaningful activity, and being at home. Gawande encourages us to question the way medicine is produced and consumed, and to ask ourselves what we really want from healthcare." Dr. Mendola’s experience as a nurses’ aide during high school and later on the inpatient psychiatric floor of a small county hospital naturally led to her interest in end-of-life issues and medical ethics. Prior to her current tenure as Director of Clinical Ethics at the University of Tennessee Medical Center, she was a lecturer in the Philosophy Department at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Ginsburg and O'Connor, transformative justices

The Honorable Pamela Reeves reviews Sisters in Law: How Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg Went to the Supreme Court and Changed the World by Linda Hirshman in this recording. Hirshman’s dual biography includes revealing stories of how these trailblazers fought for their own recognition in a male-dominated profession—battles that would ultimately benefit every American woman. She also makes clear how these two justices have shaped the legal framework of modern feminism, including employment discrimination, abortion, affirmative action, sexual harassment, and many other issues crucial to women’s lives. Judge Reeves became the first female District Judge in the Eastern District of Tennessee in 2014. She was nominated by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the Senate on a vote of 99-0.

Big data issues and opportunities

Dr. Suzie Allard offers a researcher's viewpoint on Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work, and Think by Viktor Mayer-Schönberger. Whether it is used by the National Security Agency to fight terrorism or by online retailers to predict customers’ buying patterns, big data is a revolution occurring around us, in the process of forever changing economics, science, culture, and the very way we think. But it also poses new threats, from the end of privacy as we know it to the prospect of being penalized for things we haven’t even done yet, based on big data’s ability to predict our future behavior. Dr. Allard is Associate Dean for Research at the University of Tennessee College of Communication and Information where she researches how scientists and engineers use and communicate information, with a focus on scientific data.

Race, fears and dreams

Between the World and Me is a letter that Ta-Nehisi Coates writes to his adolescent son about how to be Black in America. Coates tells his son, “This is your country, this is your world, this is your body, and you must find some way to live within the all of it." Pivoting from the biggest questions about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for his son, he offers a powerful new framework for understanding our nation’s history and current crisis. Coates shares the story of awakening to the truth about his place in the world through a series of revelatory experiences, from Howard University to Civil War battlefields, from the South Side of Chicago to Paris, from his childhood home to the living rooms of mothers whose children's lives were taken as American plunder. Pastor Chris Battle of the Tabernacle Baptist Church is joined by Chris Woodhull of the SoulCare Project in Chattanooga to lead this community discussion of the book.

Climate fears--don't panic

Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist’s Guide to Global Warming by Bjørn Lomborg is the subject of this discussion led by Renée Hoyos, Executive Director of the Tennessee Clean Water Network. In Cool It, Lomborg takes a conservative approach to climate change, arguing that many of the elaborate and staggeringly expensive actions now being considered to meet the challenges of global warming ultimately will have little impact on the world’s temperature. He suggests that rather than focusing on ineffective solutions that will cost us trillions of dollars over the coming decades, we should be looking for smarter, more cost-effective approaches (such as massively increasing our commitment to green energy research and development) that will allow us to deal not only with climate change but also with other pressing global concerns, such as malaria and HIV/AIDS. And he considers why and how this debate has fostered an atmosphere in which dissenters are immediately demonized.

The Fraterville mine disaster

The catastrophic explosion of Fraterville mine in Coal Creek, TN killed 184 men and boys. Robby Griffith and Craig Smith read the May 20, 1902 front-page coverage, and Derek Washington sings a song based on some letters written by miners trapped without hope of rescue. Steve Cotham discusses the importance and dangers of coal mining.

Civil War tensions

This episode is based on three articles telling of violent events between Union and Confederate sympathizers during and just after the Civil War, both involving the prominent Baker family whose home is now known as the Baker Peters House. The first event is the shooting death of Dr. Harvey Baker in his home, and the second is the lynching of his son in downtown Knoxville. Steve Cotham follows the readings with some comments about the Baker family and tensions between neighbors during this period. To read about the ghost legend of the Baker Peters house, check out Mysterious Knoxville by Charles Edwin Price. For more about Governor "Parson" Brownlow, see chapter 8 of Betsey Beeler Creekmore's book, Knoxville!

Status quo is not an option

Dr. Dan Terpstra summarizes a vast amount of research found in This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate by Naomi Klein. "The good news in this book is that the climate crisis has created our best opportunity yet to reinvent capitalism to work for the needs of society instead of the profits of corporations," Terpstra says. Klein argues that climate change is an alarm that calls us to fix an economic system that is already failing us in many ways. "Don't read This Changes Everything if you're looking for compromises," Terpstra says. "Naomi Klein says the time for compromise is past. To have a chance at slowing global warming, we'll need to change everything we think we know about free market capitalism. The real message is in the subtitile: 'Capitalism vs. the Climate.' It's one or the other, and we get to choose." Terpstra is retired from the University of Tennessee Innovative Computing Laboratory.

Police work scrutinized

Nate Allen, Knoxville's Deputy Chief of Police, was invited to discuss 400 Things Cops Know: Street-Smart Lessons from a Veteran Patrolman by Adam Plantinga. Allen remarked "This book is a great way to build understanding and transparency between the community and police officers. It is extremely important for the community to know and understand the laws provided for police officers to perform their job in a safe and responsible manner." He responded to many questions from the audience, but the recording captured only his remarks. This recording is edited from his answers to those questions.

A public defender's passion for justice

Mark Stephens is passionate about criminal defense and how our system of justice often fails in his response to the book Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson. Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice dedicated to defending those most desperate and in need: the poor, the wrongly condemned, and women and children trapped in the farthest reaches of our criminal justice system. One of his first cases was that of Walter McMillian, a young man who was sentenced to die for a notorious murder he insisted he didn’t commit. The case drew Bryan into a tangle of conspiracy, political machination, and legal brinksmanship—and transformed his understanding of mercy and justice forever. Just Mercy is at once an unforgettable account of an idealistic, gifted young lawyer’s coming of age, a moving window into the lives of those he has defended, and an inspiring argument for compassion in the pursuit of true just…

A reading by Suzanne Supplee

Suzanne Supplee is the author of Artichoke's Heart and When Irish Guys Are Smiling. Supplee visited on May 24, 2010 and read from her book Somebody Everybody Listens To, the story of a girl blessed with a beautiful voice and big dreams of leaving her tiny Tennessee hometown. With a beaten down car, a pocketful of hard-earned waitressing money, and stars in her eyes, Retta Lee Jones sets out to make it big in Nashville. But the road to success isn't a smooth one in a town filled with dreamers, and Retta begins to have doubts: can she make her mark while staying true to herself? Suzanne is a graduate of Southern Illinois University, and she earned a masters degree in creative writing from Towson University in Maryland. For a number of years, she has worked as both a teacher and a writer. Suzanne is married and has three daughters. Her favorite hobbies include exercise, reading, and, of course, writing.

Fountain City history: an audio walking tour

Dr. J.C. Tumblin led a walking tour of historic Fountain City on September 14, 2009 for the organization Fountain City Town Hall. You can listen and follow along with the map and illustrations in the tour booklet. We begin and end in Fountain City Park.

A lamentation of slavery's legacy

Saidiya Hartman tells of her journey to Ghana to reckon with the lives undone by slavery in Lose Your Mother: A Journey Along the Atlantic Slave Route. Michelle Commander, University of Tennessee Assistant Professor of English and Africana, discusses the book in this podcast. "Lose Your Mother traces transatlantic slavery’s continued impact on the author and Black Americans in general," Commander says. "The institution of slavery is often described as the United States’ original sin, as it set the stage for what followed, including lynching, Jim Crow legislation, the denial of full citizenship rights to Black Americans, and other race-related injustices. By visiting and researching at the vestiges of slavery that exist on Ghana’s coastline, Hartman catalogs the history of dispossession and loss experienced by enslaved Black people and their descendants."

1910 Appalachian Exposition

In 1910 the city of Knoxville prepared to receive half a million visitors (so it was hoped) to the Appalachian Exposition. How would the crowds be transported to the grounds? What would they see? Would they show up? The selected reading anticipates a successful exposition with details about railway preparations and buildings.

In August of 1932 a party of nine members of the Smoky Mountains Hiking Club made what they believed to be the first continuous hike from one end of what would become the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to the other. Among the company was Harvey Broome—for whom the local chapter of the Sierra Club is named—and Carlos Campbell, who chronicled the adventure in his memoir, Memories of Old Smoky. By the kind permission of the Campbell family, we read an abridged version of his tale of the journey.

Unearthed—the remains of John Sevier

John Sevier died on September 24, 1815, while on a mission in the territory of Alabama. In 1889 his remains were removed from an Alabama cotton field and brought to Knoxville for burial on the courthouse lawn. The newspaper articles for this episode describe in detail the excavation of the grave, the pageantry of Sevier Day, the gathering of dignitaries, and the pride of Knoxvillians in discharging "a duty incumbent upon her citizens."

Saving the family farm

Mark Campen expresses the importance of farmer's markets in discussing the book Gaining Ground: A Story Of Farmers' Markets, Local Food, And Saving The Family Farm by Forrest Pritchard. Pritchard grew up on a farm but didn’t know much about farming. Fresh out of college with a degree in English and geology, he decided he could save the family farm from financial ruin, a farm his parents have been barely keeping up by using all expendable income from their full time jobs in the city. Beginning with his initial attempt to raise money selling firewood, he tells an engaging story of his career as a nonconventional farmer. Mr. Campen explains, "This book is about family, community and a will to successfully carry on the farming lifestyle, albeit in a different way. Knowing where our food comes from and our potential role in the food system is ‘gaining ground’ here in Knoxville." Mr. Campen serves on Knoxville's City Council representing the 5th district and is Executive Director of…

Gay Street shootout

On a rainy October day in 1882, a shotgun blast ripped across Gay Street showering bystanders with stray shot and bringing instant death to the intended target, General Joseph A. Mabry. A volley of shots followed. After their echos faded, the gathered crowd was shocked to find three corpses in the street, several men and a horse wounded, and two men under arrest. One corpse was that of a prominent banker, Major Thomas O'Conner—the very man who had fired the first shot.

Knoxville and the civil rights movement

Robert J. Booker has been a civil rights leader, teacher, state legislator, historian, newspaper columnist, and Knoxville City Council member. In this program offered by the East Tennessee Historical Society, he spoke to a group of history teachers about his involvement in lunch counter sit-ins in Knoxville during the civil rights movement. (Recorded in July, 2009)

The 1890 Blue-Gray reunion

For three days in October of 1890, Knoxville hosted an enormous reunion of Confederate and Union soldiers near the site of Fort Sanders. The visitors nearly doubled the city's population, and they all needed places to sleep, and food. How did Knoxville step up to the challenge? What did the veterans do at the reunion?

China's clash of ambitions

Elizabeth Rowland, Executive Director of TN-China Network, discusses Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China by Evan Osnos in this Books Sandwiched In podcast. Modern day China is experiencing a great collision: the clash between the elevation of the individual and the Communist Party's struggle to retain control. The New Yorker’s Evan Osnos has seen the clash first hand during his decades on the ground covering this rising global power. In Age of Ambition, Osnos asks probing questions: Why does a government with more success lifting people from poverty than any civilization in history choose to put strict restraints on freedom of expression? Why do millions of young Chinese professionals—fluent in English and devoted to Western pop culture—consider themselves "angry youth" dedicated to resisting the West's influence? How are Chinese from all strata finding meaning after two decades of the relentless pursuit of wealth?

On board Airship Knoxville

In 1922, Knoxville Aero Corporation was the proud owner of the first privately-owned aeroplane in the city, christened Airship Knoxville. We read an article about one of the corporation's efforts to find a commercial application for their cutting-edge investment—that of running charter flights into the Smokies.

Desperado captured

We read news of a Wild West-style shootout in Knoxville with an actual Wild West bandit. Kid Curry was one of the most wanted criminals, a cohort of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. After participating in the Great Northern Train Robbery, he hid out in Knoxville until one evening he got into fisticuffs in a Bowery pool hall. Police arrived on the scene, and in the exchange of gunfire the bandit—whose real name was Harvey Logan—escaped from the police he wounded. Logan’s wounds led to his identification and capture two days later.

The hanging of Mary, a circus elephant

This podcast episode tells the strange and sad story of how an elephant came to be executed in Erwin, TN in 1916 for killing her handler. The reading is an abridgment of an article entitled “The hanging of Mary, a circus elephant,” by Thomas Burton published in Tennessee Folklore Society Bulletin, volume 37, number 1, March 1971 (used by permission; all rights reserved). The full article is available at the Calvin M. McClung Collection.

The global abuse of women

In A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power, President Carter addresses the world’s most serious, pervasive, and ignored violation of basic human rights: the ongoing discrimination and violence against women and girls. Wanda Sobieski responds to his book in this recording. “Carter makes a well-documented argument that the worst of prejudice, discrimination, wars, violence, distorted interpretations of religious texts, physical and mental abuse, poverty and disease fall disproportionately on women and girls,” Sobieski says. “He concludes with a Call to Action list of 23 very specific steps we can take individually and/or collectively to address this worldwide challenge.” Wanda Sobieski joined Baker, Worthington, Crossley, Stansberry & Woolf law firm in 1982, becoming the first woman partner in the hundred-year history of the firm. She established her own law firm in 1993.

Can better cities make us happier?

Where is the intersection between happiness and urban design? Knoxville Area Transit director Dawn Distler reviews Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design by Charles Montgomery and answers several questions about her plans to improve Knoxville's mass transit system for a happier rider. (Recorded March 18, 2015)

Nature deficit disorder

Dr. McIntyre, Superintendent of Knox County Schools, discusses Last child in the woods: saving our children from nature-deficit disorder by Richard Louv. He is joined by Knox County School’s Aneisa McDonald, Supervisor of Coordinated School Health, and Lisa Wagoner, Supervisor of Health Services. Louv emphasizes the important role interaction with nature plays in our personal emotional, physical and intellectual health. He contends that connecting education and play to environment raises standardized test scores and grade point averages, improving many skills such as critical thinking and even creativity. Yet sending kids outside to play is increasingly difficult. Homework and electronic entertainments compete for their time, of course, but it's also our fear of traffic, strangers, and even virus-carrying mosquitoes that keep children indoors. (Recorded November 18, 2009)

Faith to not remove mountains

Dawn Coppock and Pat Hudson of Lindquist Environmental Appalachian Fellowship (LEAF) discuss the issue of mountaintop removal coal mining and the book Something's rising: Appalachians fighting mountaintop removal. View their presentation slides as you listen to the recording below. The people who live, work, and raise families in central Appalachia face not only the physical destruction of their land but also the loss of their culture and health in communities dominated by the consequences of mountaintop removal. Included here are oral histories from both well-known activists and people rarely in the media. (Recorded October 28, 2009)

Cheap is costly

Dr. William D. Shiell, Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church, discusses Cheap: the high cost of discount culture by Ellen Ruppel Shell. "Cheap addresses our need for more stuff by challenging our assumptions about discounts," Dr Shiell said. "The book says that just because something is on sale does not make it a good value. During the shopping season, this book asks us to look beyond the sale price and examine how our purchases reflect our values." (Recorded December 2, 2009)

Cleaning our consumption

Dr. Dana Christensen, Associate Laboratory Director of the Energy and Engineering Sciences Directorate of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, discusses Coming clean: breaking America's addiction to oil and coal by Michael Brune, executive director of Rainforest Action Network. (Recorded June 10, 2009) "Michael Brune is a political activist who has been successful in bringing attention to social/environmental causes," says Dr. Christensen. "His success in gaining agreements from companies such as Home Depot and Lowe’s toward not selling old growth rain forest products is an example of how a small number of citizens can change corporate behaviors when the cause is defensible. Coming clean is his effort to change the purchasing habits of the general citizenry; a much greater challenge than influencing a small number of companies. Indeed, the general citizenry purchase electricity, not the coal used to produce the electricity, thus making the messaging even more difficult. The book r…

Salt, Sugar, Fat

In Salt, Sugar, Fat, Pulitzer Prize–winning investigative reporter Michael Moss shows how the trillion-dollar-per-year processed food industry has brought us to the point of today's obesity rates. The average American eats thirty-three pounds of cheese and seventy pounds of sugar annually, and daily injests double the recommended amount of salt. Grounded in meticulous research, this book exposes the methods of the industry giants to promote over-consumption, as revealed by concerned insiders who make startling confessions. Mary Pom Claiborne, Communications Manager of Knox County Public Library, led a discussion of the book in 2014. In a special interview recorded a year after the discussion, she tells of the impact this information had on her and the personal decision it provoked. (Recorded March 19, 2014 and March 24, 2015)

Species apocalypse now

Todd Witcher responds to Elizabeth Kolbert's The sixth extinction: an unnatural history and explains the actions that can be taken. (Recorded December 17, 2014) Over the last half a billion years, there have been five mass extinctions, when the diversity of life on earth suddenly and dramatically contracted. Scientists around the world are currently monitoring the sixth extinction, predicted to be the most devastating extinction event since the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs. Elizabeth Kolbert draws on the work of scores of researchers in half a dozen disciplines, accompanying many of them into the field: geologists who study deep ocean cores, botanists who follow the tree line as it climbs up the Andes, marine biologists who dive off the Great Barrier Reef. The sixth extinction is likely to be mankind's most lasting legacy; as Kolbert observes, it compels us to rethink the fundamental question of what it means to be human. "This a great book that takes a look at the bi…

Can we innovate infinitely?

Susanna Sutherland, of Sutherland & Associates, offers a critique of The infinite resource: the power of ideas on a finite planet by Ramez Naam. Naam contends that with innovation and expanding human knowledge, humanity will meet the very real and enormous environmental challenges we face. Ms. Sutherland summarizes, "Though dealing with global issues, this book notes that individual choices drive big picture outcomes. It contends that what you and I chose to think, say, do, not do, support, or oppose—here in Knoxville—impacts more than just Knoxville. It reminds us that the incredible quality of life we enjoy comes with a caretaker’s responsibility." (Recorded November 19, 2014)

Greening the urban environment

John W. Craig, owner of Segundo Properties, discusses Growing greener cities: urban sustainability in the twenty-first century, edited by Eugenie L. Birch and Susan M. Wachter. The book examines urban sustainability and environmental issues beyond parks and recreational spaces, such as public transit, water resources and food production. The topics are important for city planners, policy makers, and especially citizens. (Recorded September 23, 2009)

Cradle to cradle

Elizabeth Eason, a Knoxville architect accredited with the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED system, led a community discussion of the book Cradle to cradle: remaking the way we make things by William McDonough and Michael Braungart. McDonough and Braungart question the wisdom of "reduce, reuse, recycle" and propose that products might be designed so that, after their useful life, they provide nourishment for something new—either as "biological nutrients" that safely re-enter the environment or as "technical nutrients" that circulate within closed-loop industrial cycles, without being "downcycled" into low-grade uses (as most "recyclables" now are). (Recorded April 8, 2009)

The green-collar economy

In The green-collar economy: how one solution can fix our two biggest problems, author Van Jones illustrates how we can invent and invest our way out of the pollution-based grey economy and into a healthy new green economy. Chris Woodhull, a former Knoxville City Council member and co-founder of TRIBE ONE, led a community discussion of the book. "I am interested in this book because it combines two significant community challenges with one very practical solution," said Woodhull. "We address the disenfranchisement of inner city youth to the workforce at the same time that we are building a greener city. This approach is tailor-made for us here in Knoxville." (Recorded May 13, 2009)

Market Square farmers market

In this podcast we read two articles (transcript below) from the 1920s and 30s that appreciate the development of Market Square as a farmer's market. Author Jack Neely is a special guest commentator; his book is entitled Market Square: a history of the most democratic place on earth.

Hot: living through the next 50 years on Earth

Dr. Jack D. Fellows, Director of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Climate Change Science Institute, discusses Hot: living through the next 50 years on Earth by Mark Hertsgaard. "This book is a great history of the climate change debate as well as offering a look at the threats and opportunities future generations will face from a changing climate. It is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand how we have gotten to this point in our history, and what we can do about it." (Recorded October 15, 2014)

Ben Epperson, Coordinator of Beardsley Community Farm, discusses some issues of local food resources based on the memoir Animal, vegetable, miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. "Animal, vegetable, miracle is an important story for all of us," says Epperson, "especially here in East Tennessee where our growing season can last up to 10 months." (Recorded July 15, 2009)

The climate casino

Scientists are sounding alarms that climate change is happening right now. Inaction looks like a risky roll of the global-warming dice. Erin Gill, Director, City of Knoxville's Office of Sustainability, reviews The climate casino: risk, uncertainty, and economics for a warming world by William D. Nordaus in this podcast. “The climate casino offers a no-nonsense look at why communities should be concerned about climate change and the types of policies that can reduce global climate risks," Ms. Gill says. "Its focus on science and economics helps to—in Nordhaus’ words—‘cool down the rhetoric’ and foster analytical and productive conversations about climate change.” Ms. Gill has over five years of experience managing and implementing environmental programs. The City of Knoxville's Office of Sustainability addresses issues relating to the environmental, economic, and social health of the Knoxville community. Ms. Gill has a Master of Environmental Management degree from Yale…

The million-dollar Gay Street fire

On April 8, 1897, a small fire began in back of a hotel in Gay Street's business district and quickly spread through the expensive establishments that were the pride of the city. The fire claimed five lives and a million dollars' worth of property. Citizens criticized the city council for spending money on a new market house and Centennial celebrations rather than spending more on the newly-established professional fire department. Ordinances regulating fire escapes and shared walls found new support, as well.

American poverty: realities and prescriptions

Alvin Nance, President and Chief Executive Officer of Knoxville Community Development Corporation, discusses Sasha Abramsky's book The American way of poverty: how the other half still lives, which explores the new realities of poverty in America 50 years after the publication of Michael Harrington's groundbreaking book, The other America. (Recorded August 20, 2014) Freelance reporter Abramsky demonstrates “how the structure of federal programs works against the recipients when our economic system experiences a recession,” Nance said. “It was interesting to see how elected officials viewed assistance provided to those who were working and lost their jobs, versus those who were working in low paying jobs who received assistance.” Prior to joining the housing authority, Nance worked in the banking industry for 20 years and served on the Knoxville Community Development Corporation Board of Commissioners for eight years. Nance graduated from Maryville College in 1979 with a…

"We get the media we deserve"

The Internet age is giving residents of the free world direct access to information and more responsibility in consuming it. Are modern media consumers smart, savvy, and well-informed enough for the responsibility? Dr. Edward Caudill holds us accountable in his discussion of the graphic book The influencing machine : Brooke Gladstone on the media by Brooke Gladstone. (Recorded July 16, 2014) “Brooke Gladstone offers the most engaging and insightful critique of modern media since Walter Lippmann,” Caudill says. “She spares no one, including herself and the standards of her profession.” Dr. Edward Caudill is a professor of Journalism and Electronic Media at the University of Tennessee. His most recent book is Intelligently designed: how creationists built the campaign against evolution. Earlier this year, Brooke Gladstone interviewed him about the book as part of National Public Radio’s “On the Media.” He and Paul Ashdown have co-authored a trilogy of books on Civil War f…

Intriguing possibilities in geopolitics

Dean Rice, Knox County Chief of Staff, looks at the future as discussed in the book The next 100 years: a forecast for the 21st century by George Friedman. (Recorded June 18, 2014) “Clearly, predicting events over a century is next to impossible; however, Friedman builds strong, logical cases for the shifts and changes he believes lie ahead. The next 100 years is an extremely thought provoking look at geopolitical shifts that, if realized, will profoundly impact the world our children and grandchildren live in. Anyone who follows the current events unfolding in Ukraine and Russia will find this book absolutely fascinating,” Rice said. In addition to serving as Chief of Staff for Knox County, Rice is an adjunct faculty member with University of Tennessee-Knoxville’s College of Communication and Information Science, where he also earned a degree in communication studies. He served as Legislative/Policy Aid on issues of energy, federal budget, and national defense for members of t…

The hopes and limits of "conscious capitalism"

Law professor Joan MacLeod Heminway critiques Conscious capitalism: liberating the heroic spirit of business by John Mackey and Raj Sisodia. Professor Heminway remarks, "There has been a longstanding debate in business and legal circles about whether corporations exist solely or primarily to maximize shareholder wealth or whether the corporate form serves—or even is permitted to serve—a larger purpose. Conscious capitalism engages this debate and encourages a more broadly inclusive definition of the corporation—of capitalist business enterprises as a whole—that involves deliberate business choices made to serve a more wide-ranging set of objectives." Joan MacLeod Heminway is the W.P. Toms Distinguished Professor of Law at The University of Tennessee College of Law; a fellow of the Center for Business and Economic Research, the Center for the Study of Social Justice, and the Center for Corporate Governance; and serves on the Executive Committee of the Business Law Section of t…

Dr. John Bohstedt connects the dots in his discussion of Food politics: what everyone needs to know by Robert Paarlberg. His passionate interest in the politics of hunger is both historical and modern. As a University of Tennessee history professor, his research revealed hundreds of food riots during the Industrial Revolution. Today’s struggles over food are again making headlines. “As they did 250 years ago, the social drama of riots brings on stage political forces, conflicts and actors we may not have recognized,” he says. Dr. Bohstedt thinks most Americans are probably unaware of the offstage dramas of food politics, dramas that are brought to light in the book Food politics. “Paarlberg shows us how politics shapes our food chain—from abundance to obesity to E. coli to organic foods to farm bills to Freedom fries. Paarlberg raises important questions such as, how do our farmers—and the ‘American food regime’—and ethanol—and our menus—affect hungry Asians and…

"You can tell just by looking"

Reverend Bob Galloway, Pastor Emeritus of the Metropolitan Community Church, takes some issues with the book "You can tell just by looking": and 20 other myths about LGBT life and people by Michael Bronski, Ann Pellegrini and Michael Amico. The three scholars and activists challenge both positive and negative myths about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and culture. (Recorded February 19, 2014)

College football scandals

College football has never been more popular, but behind the glittering success are darker truths. Mike Strange, sports reporter for the Knoxville News Sentinel, discusses The system: the glory and scandal of big-time college football by Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian. "A hot dog fresh off the grill on a summer picnic is sublime," Strange says. "But, you probably wouldn't want to be at the meat-packing plant to see what goes into it. College football is sort of like that." (Recorded January 15, 2014)

A regional environmental disaster

Suddenly there’s a desert in a region that receives almost 60 inches of rain a year. That desert in the middle of the lush, diversified Southern Appalachian forest took Atlanta attorney Duncan Maysilles by surprise, as he tells in his book Ducktown smoke: the fight over one of the South's greatest environmental disasters. He reads from his book and reveals his research in this podcast. (Recorded October 16, 2013)

America's wealth and income gap

It's not just a cliché: statistics demonstrate clearly that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. Is there a better way to spread the wealth? Author and political economist Gar Alperovitz shares his plan for wealth equality in his landmark book What then must we do? : straight talk about the next American revolution. City Council member and practicing attorney Marshall Stair summarizes and responds to the main points. (Recorded November 20, 2013)

Natural farming

Chad Hellwinckel, Research Assistant Professor in the University of Tennessee's Agricultural Analysis Center, discusses The one-straw revolution: an introduction to natural farming by Masanobu Fukuoka. Trained as a scientist, Fukuoka rejected both modern agribusiness and centuries of agricultural practice, deciding instead that the best forms of cultivation mirror nature’s own laws. Over the next three decades he perfected his “do-nothing” technique: commonsense, sustainable practices that all but eliminate the use of pesticides, fertilizer, tillage, and wasteful effort. (Recorded September 18, 2013)

How children succeed

Since No Child Left Behind was enacted, a growing and heartfelt opposition to what is considered too much standardized testing has echoed across the country. What should we do instead? Indya Kincannon, Knox County Schools board member and former chair, handles this question in her review of How children succeed: grit, curiosity, and the hidden power of character by Paul Tough. (Recorded August 21, 2013)

Mental illness and crime

"Crazy" is a word we often throw around lightly, just to joke and tease. But when someone in your family suffers a serious mental illness, your perspective can do an about-face. When writer Pete Earley’s own son broke into a neighbor's house during a psychotic episode, Earley began to learn what happens to mentally ill people who break a law. Dr. Clif Tennison, Chief Clinical Officer with Helen Ross McNabb Center, responds to Earley’s book Crazy: a father's search through America's mental health madness. (Recorded July 17, 2013)

Renewable energy

Harvey Abouelata, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Efficient Energy of Tennessee, discusses Power trip: from oil wells to solar cells—our ride to the renewable future by Amanda Little. After covering the environment and energy beat for more than a decade, journalist Little decided that the only way to really understand America's energy crisis was to travel into the heart of it. She describes the most extreme frontiers of our energy landscape, how abundant oil and coal built the American superpower, and how the same American ingenuity can deliver our renewable energy future. (Recorded June 16, 2010)

The impact of fast food

Dr. John Nolt, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Tennessee, discusses the classic Fast food nation: the dark side of the all-American meal by Eric Schlosser, a book that remains relevant today. Schlosser examines the impact of fast food from every angle, including farming practices, land use, labor, transportation, culture, and globalization. Now over a decade since it was published, Fast food nation demonstrates its "sustainability" as library patrons continue to check it out. (Recorded July 21, 2010)

Fighting extinction

Don Barger, Senior Regional Director of the National Parks Conservation Association, discusses Rewilding the world: dispatches from the conservation revolution by Caroline Fraser, the first definitive account of a visionary campaign to confront the looming extinction of thousands of species. (Recorded August 25, 2010) Rewilding aims to save species by restoring habitats, reviving migration corridors, and brokering peace between people and predators. Traveling with wildlife biologists and conservationists, Fraser reports on the vast projects that are turning Europe’s former Iron Curtain into a greenbelt, creating trans-frontier Peace Parks to renew elephant routes throughout Africa, and linking protected areas from the Yukon to Mexico and beyond.

Cities as models of sustainability

Madeline Rogero, Director of the Community Development Department for the City of Knoxville, spoke to a record-setting crowd about the book Green metropolis : why living smaller, living closer, and driving less are the keys to sustainability by David Owen. Owen argues that the greenest community in the United States is not Portland, Oregon, or Snowmass, Colorado, but New York, New York. Residents of compact urban centers live in smaller spaces, discard less trash, and, most important of all, spend far less time in automobiles. (Recorded September 29, 2010)

Declining water resources

Tiffany Foster, Renee Hoyos, and Joanne Logan discussed Maude Barlow's book Blue covenant : the global water crisis and the coming battle for the right to water. Ms. Hoyos said "This book brings the challenges to managing water for the future into sharp relief. While we sometimes think that we have plenty of water, resources are declining due to bad development and industrial practices. This book is a real eye-opener and a must read for those concerned about the future of water worldwide and locally." (Recorded February 2, 2010)

Antibiotic resistant supergerms

This Brown Bag, Green Book is a little different. Instead of a book, the discussion is based on a New Yorker article “Superbugs” by Jerome Groopman. Dr. Martha Buchanan, Director of Knox County Health Department, led the discussion. (Recorded October 20, 2010) For a long-form treatment of antibiotic resistant superbugs, check out Superbug by Maryn McKenna. The focus of this book is the pathogen known as MRSA: methicillin-resistant Staphyloccocus aureus. See also the Frontline documentary below.

The study of life

Todd Witcher discusses Every living thing : man's obsessive quest to catalog life, from nanobacteria to new monkeys, by Rob Dunn. The author reminds readers how tough and exhilarating it is to study the natural world, and why it matters. In a series of vivid portraits of scientists as interesting as the mysteries they chase, Dunn introduces the reader to breakthroughs that have changed the world and others that might still. Mr. Witcher is the Executive Director of Discover Life in America, the organization that is cataloging the biodiversity of the Great Smoky Mountains. (Recorded November 4, 2010)

Eaarth, our new planet

Charles Maynard, author and founding Executive Director of Friends of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, discusses Eaarth: making a life on a tough new planet by Bill McKibben. Twenty years ago, with his previous book The end of nature, Bill McKibben offered one of the earliest warnings about global warming. Those warnings went mostly unheeded; now, he insists, we need to acknowledge that we've waited too long, and that massive change is not only unavoidable but already under way. Our old familiar globe is suddenly melting, drying, acidifying, flooding, and burning in ways that no human has ever seen. We've created, in very short order, a new planet, still recognizable but fundamentally different. We may as well call it “Eaarth.” (Recorded January 26, 2011)

The weather of a changed climate

Matt Hinkin, meteorologist at television station WATE, shares some of his favorite selections from the book The weather of the future : heat waves, extreme storms, and other scenes from a climate-changed planet by renown climatologist Heidi Cullen. The author projects a future in which the world's weather has drastically changed. Regions of the planet are affected in various ways, with some winners and some losers. (Recorded February 16, 2011)

Climate change and political players

Dr. Stephen A. Smith, Executive Director of Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, discusses The Climate war: true believers, power brokers, and the fight to save the Earth by Eric Pooley. The author reveals the powerful interests engaged in the fight over capping pollution contributing to climate change and the international effects of America's political battle. (Recorded March 23, 2011)

Nuclear power plant accidents

Harold Denton, a nuclear physicist and former Director of the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, provides his perspective on three accidents in nuclear power generation: Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima. There was no book selected for this meeting, but Nuclear energy what everyone needs to know is a good overview of the subject. (Recorded April 29, 2011)

Toxins and cancer

Edye Ellis, former co-anchor of television station WBIR-TV Channel 10, talks about surviving cancer and the importance of understanding the risks of exposure to toxins. The book Living downstream: an ecologist's personal investigation of cancer and the environment by Sandra Steingraber suggests that reducing our dependence on coal and petroleum not only makes sense from a green-energy perspective, but it would also reduce the amount of toxins in our environment. (Recorded May 18, 2011)

Capitalism and environmental sustainability

The bridge at the edge of the world: capitalism, the environment, and crossing from crisis to sustainability by James Gustave Speth suggests that our current emphasis on economic growth does not allow for critical environmental protections. Columnist Frank Cagle responds to some of the ideas in the book. (Recorded June 15, 2011)

Keeping exotic animals

Forbidden creatures: inside the world of animal smuggling and exotic pets, looks into the motivations of owners of exotic pets and the consequences of the lucrative and illegal trade in dangerous animals or endangered species. The discussion of the book is led by Dr. Marcy Souza of the University of Tennessee's College of Veterinary Medicine. (Recorded August 24, 2011)

Climate change deniers

Climate cover-up: the crusade to deny global warming by James Hoggan presents a detailed analysis of how business organizations and conservative think tanks orchestrate campaigns to question global warming. Jesse Fox Mayshark, Communications Manager for the City of Knoxville, discusses the book. (Recorded September 21, 2011)

A moral consideration of climate change

The current debate about the causes of climate change is polarizing enough. When we extend the discussion to what our moral response to it should be, the discussion becomes even more challenging. Nina Gregg, Independent Organization Consultant, contemplates the book Moral ground: ethical action for a planet in peril, edited by Kathleen Dean Moore and Michael P. Nelson. (Recorded October 19, 2011)

Water use and abuse

In The ripple effect : the fate of freshwater in the twenty-first century, Alex Prud'homme explores how people in the U.S. and around the world use and abuse water, and how our actions impact the earth's limited water supply. Steve Scarborough, one of the founders of Dagger Canoe Company, discusses the book and his views on the problem of water quality. Scarborough has been active in river and water issues for 40 years. He is a former board member of the American Canoe Association and now sits on the board of Conservation Fisheries. He is working on a project to establish conservation easements on White's Creek Gorge in Rhea and Roane counties. (Recorded January 18, 2012)

George Washington Carver

Elandria Williams of the Highlander Research and Education Center discusses My work is that of conservation : an environmental biography of George Washington Carver by Mark D. Hersey in this Brown Bag, Green Book podcast. Carver's efforts to improve the lot of Alabama’s poorest farmers let him to promote agricultural practices that were considerably “greener” than is often assumed today. (Recorded February 15, 2012)

Battling blight

City of Knoxville Neighborhood Coordinator David Massey talks about the impact of blight on a community as he reviews Bringing buildings back: from abandoned properties to community assets: a guidebook for policymakers and practitioners by Alan Mallach. “Mallach is a principal in the Center for Community Progress, a nationally acclaimed team of experts who have assisted the City of Knoxville and other Tennessee cities in efforts to adopt a more proactive approach to abandoned, blighted and vacant properties,” Massey says. “His work is exhaustive in its detailed explanation of the tools and best practices used across the country, including Knoxville, to combat blight.” In Bringing Buildings Back, Mallach pulls together insights from law, economics, planning, and design to address all sides of the problem, from how abandonment can be prevented to how best to bring these properties back into productive reuse. (Recorded April 18, 2012)

Climate change and health

You may be sick of hearing about climate change, but it might also be making you sick. Dr. Agricola Odoi, University of Tennessee Associate Professor of Veterinary Medicine thinks about the impact of climate change on health as analyzed in Changing planet, changing health: how the climate crisis threatens our health and what we can do about it by Paul R. Epstein in this Brown Bag, Green Book program. “Paul Epstein, a physician, and Dan Ferber, a journalist, team up to discuss relationships between changing climate and changes in the occurrence of different health problems through stories of real people from different regions across the globe," Dr. Odoi says. The author explores the connections between global warming and cholera, malaria, lyme disease, asthma, and other health threats. Most importantly, the book offers innovative solutions for shaping a healthy global economic order in the twenty-first century. (Recorded May 16, 2012)

Hot, Flat, and Crowded

Mike Edwards, CEO and President of the Knoxville Chamber, leads a community discussion of the book Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution and How It Can Renew America by Thomas Friedman. In his groundbreaking book, Thomas Friedman discusses what he sees as America’s surprising loss of focus and national purpose since the September 11 terrorist attacks, as well as the global environmental crisis. Friedman explains why he believes this is a great challenge, but also a great opportunity—one that America cannot afford to miss. Not only is American leadership the key to the healing of the earth, it is also our best strategy for the renewal of America. Edwards says he chose Hot, Flat, and Crowded because it "hits the nail on the head. We're facing a big uphill climb, but fortunately, in East Tennessee we've got some world class resources to deal with the issues ahead of us." (Recorded March 11, 2009)

Analysis of successful forecasting

The City of Knoxville’s Deputy to the Mayor and Chief Policy Officer Dr. William Lyons discusses the book The signal and the noise : why so many predictions fail-- but some don't by Nate Silver. (Recorded January 16, 2013) Silver is the statistician behind The New York Times' FiveThirtyEight election blog. In his book, Silver examines successful forecasters on the topics of hurricanes, baseball, poker, pro basketball and Capitol Hill. "Nate Silver is a master of highlighting and simplifying the assumptions that enable our ability to forecast physical, social, political outcomes," says Dr. Lyons. "In this insightful book he notes the importance of human judgment as a valuable supplement to the use of probability-based models to understand and explain some of the most important recent events.”

Are we choosing to collapse?

In this podcast Knoxville News Sentinel editor Jack McElroy summarizes and comments on the book Collapse: How societies choose to fail or succeed, by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jared Diamond. (Recorded June 19, 2013) "The subject matter of Jared Diamond’s Collapse is, in some ways, the opposite of his earlier Pulitzer Prize-winning Guns, Germs and Steel," McElroy says. "That book dealt with the development of human civilization. This more recent book looks at examples of societal collapse. Both works are ruthlessly analytical, and that makes Collapse especially thought-provoking, and frightening. As you read the book, it becomes all too clear that the factors confronted by people in such isolated societies as Easter Island or Pitcairn Island are the same basic issues we are now facing on our much larger but ultimately just-as-isolated planet."

"No Child Left Behind" examined

Dr. Nissa Dahlin-Brown of the Howard Baker Center for Public Policy discusses The death and life of the great American school system : how testing and choice are undermining education by Diane Ravitch. (Recorded May 15, 2013) Ravitch, former Assistant Secretary of Education and a leader in the drive to create a national curriculum, examines her career in education reform and repudiates positions that she once staunchly advocated. Drawing on over forty years of research and experience, Ravitch critiques today’s most popular ideas for restructuring schools including privatization, standardized testing, punitive accountability, and the feckless multiplication of charter schools. She shows conclusively why the business model is not an appropriate way to improve schools. Using examples from major cities like New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Denver, and San Diego, Ravitch makes the case that public education today is in peril.

The new feminist agenda

Elizabeth Wright, Director of Women’s Advocacy and Written Communications at Young Women's Christian Association Knoxville, discusses The new feminist agenda: defining the next revolution for women, work, and family by Madeleine Kunin. (Recorded April 17, 2013)According to Kunin, progress is evident considering that women now comprise nearly 60 percent of college undergraduates and half of all medical and law students. They have entered the workforce in record numbers, making the two-wage-earner family the norm. But, Kunin says, combining a career and family turned out to be more complicated than expected. While women changed, social structures surrounding work and family remained static. Looking back over five decades of advocacy, Kunin analyzes where progress stalled, looks at the successes of other countries, and charts the course for the next feminist revolution--one that mobilizes women, and men, to call for the kind of government and workplace policies that can improve the liv…

Fighting for a mountain

Jay Leutze talks about his book Stand up that mountain: the battle to save one small community in the wilderness along the Appalachian Trail, that tells the story of how his neighbors formed a coalition to save a treasured mountain peak from destruction by a mining company. (Recorded March 20, 2013) One day the author got a call from fourteen-year-old Ashley and her Aunt Ollie. Ashley and Ollie said they had evidence that Clark Stone Company was violating the Mining Act of 1971 up on Belview Mountain, one of the most remote and wildest places in the eastern United States. They wanted Jay, a non-practicing attorney, to sue the company to put a stop to their mining operation. Upon meeting Ashley and Ollie, he knew he was embarking on a course that would change his life. He formed a plaintiff group and sued the state of North Carolina for violations of its own mining laws. He and Ashley's family were eventually joined by several national conservation groups seeking to save Belview Mounta…

Is human nature becoming less violent?

Former Knoxville Chief of Police Sterling Owen remarks on the history of violence as he discusses The better angels of our nature : why violence has declined by Steven Pinker. (Recorded February 20, 2013) Pinker, a New York Times bestselling author, shows that despite the ceaseless news about war, crime, and terrorism, violence has actually been in decline over long stretches of history. Exploding myths about humankind's inherent violence and the curse of modernity, this ambitious book continues Pinker's exploration of the essence of human nature, mixing psychology and history to provide a remarkable picture of an increasingly enlightened world.

New green history of the world

When we consider our monumental environmental challenges—climate change, air and water pollution, environmental toxins, etc.—it seems that we must be the first civilization to face environmental degradation serious enough to threaten our very way of life. According to author Clive Ponting, we aren’t the first, and history does have something to teach us. Steve Cotham, Manager of the Knox County Public Library's McClung Historical Collection, considers Ponting’s book A new green history of the world : the environment and the collapse of great civilizations, in this recording. Using the Roman empire as its central example, this classic work reveals how overexpansion and the exhaustion of available natural resources have played key roles in the collapse of all great cultures in human history. With an argument of urgent relevance to our modern society, Ponting offers a provocative and illuminating view of human history and its relationship to the environment. Cotham has worked in…

Author Marianne Wiggins: an excerpt

Marianne Wiggins is the author of seven books of fiction including Evidence of Things Unseen, which is set in Knoxville. She has won an NEA grant, the Whiting Writers' Award, and the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize, and she was a National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize finalist in fiction for Evidence of Things Unseen. An evening with Marianne Wiggins was sponsored by Friends of the Library in honor of the 125th anniversary of Knox County Public Library. Here's a short excerpt of her reading and opening remarks recorded on January 24, 2012.

McCarthy's Southern novels

Christopher Walsh, author of In the Wake of the Sun: Navigating the Southern Works of Cormac McCarthy, discusses his favorite aspects of McCarthy's work in this recording edited from his public remarks on April 7, 2010.

Miss Hazen's courtship in court

Miss Evelyn Hazen, a beautiful and independent woman of a prominent family, caused a stir in Knoxville society when she sued her lover for jilting her. The reading is edited and compiled from several Knoxville Journal stories filed in Covington, KY in 1934 as Miss Hazen's courtship was examined in a court of law.

A Death in the Family: A Restoration of the Author's Text

James Agee's A Death in the Family has been a staple in American literature for 50 years, but it is not the novel the author intended to publish. University of Tennessee professor Michael A. Lofaro restored the novel to reflect the manuscript Agee left completed at his death. In this recording he discusses the new version: A Death in the Family: A Restoration of the Author's Text.

Celebrating the Sunsphere

On July 28, 2008 the Sunsphere was both the site and the subject of a luncheon lecture by one of the architects who worked on creating the theme structure for the 1982 World's Fair. William Denton spoke about the challenges of constructing the world's first spherical building, and what he hoped Knoxville would do with it. Former mayor Randall Tyree spoke following Mr. Denton's remarks.

A Night on the Bowery

The first in a podcast series based on readings of old Knoxville newspapers, this article is "A Night on the Bowery," published in The Journal and Tribune, Sunday, July 8, 1900. Robby Griffith reads the article, after which Knox County Historian and librarian Steve Cotham provides the historical context. The music was performed by Music Therapy, recorded live at the Time Warp Tea Room in Happy Holler.

From novel to film: the making of To Kill a Mockingbird

As part of our 2007 Big Read, the library hosted discussions of the book To Kill A Mockingbird and a screening of the film. Gerald Wood, Dean of Humanites at Carson-Newman College, and Barbara Moore, Professor in the School of Journalism and Electronic Media at the University of Tennessee, joined us to discuss the film adaptation of the book.