Partner Programs

In Title IX, Pat Summitt, and Tennessee’s Trailblazers, Mary Ellen Pethel introduces readers to past and present pioneers—each instrumental to the success of women’s athletics across the state of Tennessee and the nation.

Join us in Memphis on March 14-17 as we gather on the river with the TAMfam to explore this theme, visit landmark historic sites and museums with national significance and prepare ourselves to be leaders in our state during times that may continue to be difficult but also offer opportunities for change that the revolutionaries…

A gripping and meticulously crafted work of narrative nonfiction, Walk Through Fire: The Train Disaster That Changed America (on-sale February 21, 2023) reconstructs the events of a horrific explosion in 1978 that can still be felt today. The explosion of a tank car full of liquid propane devastated the small town of Waverly, Tennessee, shocked the nation,…

Tennessee History Day is the state level contest for National History Day. Students from across Tennessee come to Nashville to showcase the exhibits, performances, websites, papers, and documentary films they have created. National History Day is a year-long education program for students in grades 6-12 that engages both educators and students to improve the teaching…

Join us as we explore biographies — each with a unique approach — of two legendary Tennessee figures, David Crockett and Timothy Demonbreun. In We Should Soon Become Respectable: Nashville's Own Timothy Demonbreun, Author Elizabeth Elkins sorts through the legends and nails down the facts in order to present the true story of "Nashville's First Citizen." In The…

Parnassus Books, in partnership with Humanities TN, is pleased to present an evening with Abraham Verghese as he discusses his new book, The Covenenant of Water. This is a ticketed event which will take place IN STORE on Thursday, May 18th at 6:30pm Central Time. Masks are strongly encouraged during this event.  Ticketing: Each ticket is $35.00 and includes…

You: The Story is a powerful how-to book for aspiring writers that encourages you to look inward and excavate your own memories in order to discover the authentic voices and compelling details that are waiting to be put on the page. Masterfully weaving in humorous and heartfelt stories from her own life that illustrate an aspect…

In graduate school, Rachel Martin volunteered with a Southern oral history project. One day, she was sent to a small town in Tennessee, in the foothills of the Appalachians, where locals wanted to build a museum to commemorate the events of September 1956, when Clinton High School became the first school in the former Confederacy…

The first book to explore the history of college fight songs as a culturally important phenomenon, From Dixie to Rocky Top zeroes in on the US South, where college football has forged a powerful, quasi-religious sense of meaning and identity throughout the region. Tracing the story of Southeastern Conference (SEC) fight songs from the late nineteenth to the…

The presidential election of 1844 had it all: an unpopular incumbent forced out of the race, a perennial presidential loser, a candidate whose career appeared to be on life support, a long-shot whose political ideology had been transformed by religious conversion, even a political assassination. Out of this collection of contenders emerged James K. Polk,…

Poet, editor, and educator Ciona Rouse is the author of Vantablack, the first chapbook of Third Man Books (2017). Her poetry has appeared in the journals Oxford American, Wildness, Booth, The Account, Still, Talking River, Gabby Journal, Matter: a journal of political poetry and commentary and other publications. She has been featured on NPR Music and has work selected by Ada Limón for the podcast The Slowdown.

The Tigerbelles tells the epic story of the 1960 Tennessee State University all-Black women's track team, which found Olympic glory at the 1960 games in Rome. The author tells a story of desire, success and failure--of beating the odds--against the backdrop of a changing America, but tells it in an intimate way. Readers will come to…

Southern History Remixed: On Rock ‘n’ Roll and the Dilemma of Race is a book about popular music. But it also is a book about southern history. The two are not mutually exclusive. Ultimately, it is an exploration which demonstrates that what occurs in the musical realm does affect and reflect what happens in the historical…

On September 10, 1957, Hattie Cotton Elementary School in Nashville, Tennessee, blew up. On March 16, 1958, the Jewish Community Center was bombed. On April 19, 1960, the home of Civil Rights attorney and Nashville city councilman, Z. Alexander Looby was dynamited. He and his wife were lucky to escape with their lives. These bombings…

Parasite meets Such a Fun Age in a scorching debut that is as heartbreaking as it is thrilling, examining the intersection of race, class, and female friendship, and the devastating consequences of everyday actions. After her best friend’s mysterious death, Elizabeth Smith’s picture-perfect life in the Memphis suburbs has spiraled out of control—so much so that she hires a…

*THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT* As Charles Strobel, beloved Nashville priest and advocate for the unhoused, reached the end of his life in 2023, he began to contemplate the last message he wanted to leave for his family, friends, and community. With the help of his niece, Katie Seigenthaler, and his colleague, Amy Frogge, Charlie…

Jennifer Core and Janet Hasson’s study of samplers—embroideries that are “first attempts at a new technique, color combination, or unusual material”—provides vivid descriptions of this nineteenth-century Tennessee art form in its many varieties. The authors not only catalogue and describe samplers from each of Tennessee’s major regions—West, Middle, and East—but also incorporate research on the…

The Promise Land community, a small village west of Nashville, Tennessee was founded after the Civil War by people who had been enslaved at the Cumberland Iron Furnace. These early settlers, who included United States Colored Troops veterans, were able to purchase land and establish Black‑owned businesses. This afforded the community a level of stability…

PLEASE NOTE THIS EVENT IS CANCELED.PREVIOUSLY PURCHASED TICKETS WILL BE REFUNDED. Every ticket includes a pre-signed copy of Joe Manchin's Dead Center: In Defense of Common Sense. (Please note there will be no public signing line at the event.) Join former U.S. Senator Joe Manchin for a timely and candid conversation about his maverick career in…

Join us for the first program in our new series Beyond the Divide, presented by Millions of Conversations and hosted by Nashville Public Library. Beyond the Divide is an eight-part series presented by Millions of Conversations (MoC) that brings together Nashville to build trust, share meaningful conversations, and unite around common values for a shared future. Through…