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Burning down the house : how libertarian philosophy was corrupted by delusion and greed / by Koppelman, Andrew,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."A lively history of American libertarianism and its decay into dangerous fantasy. In 2010 in South Fulton, Tennessee, each household paid the local fire department a yearly fee of $75.00. That year, Gene Cranick's house accidentally caught fire. But thefire department refused to come because Cranick had forgotten to pay his yearly fee, leaving his home in ashes. Observers across the political spectrum agreed-some with horror and some with enthusiasm-that this revealed the true face of libertarianism. But libertarianism did not always require callous indifference to the misfortunes of others. Modern libertarianism began with Friedrich Hayek's admirable corrective to the Depression-era vogue for central economic planning. It resisted oppressive state power. It showed how capitalism could improve life for everyone. Yet today, it's a toxic blend of anarchism, disdain for the weak, and rationalization for environmental catastrophe. Libertarians today accept new, radical arguments-which crumble under scrutiny-that justify dishonest business practices and Covid deniers who refuse to wear masks in the name of "freedom." Andrew Koppelman's book traces libertarianism's evolution from Hayek's moderate pro-market ideas to the romantic fabulism of Murray Rothbard, Robert Nozick, and Ayn Rand, and Charles Koch's promotion of climate change denial. Burning Down the House is the definitive history of an ideological movement that has reshaped American politics"--
Subjects: Capitalism; Individualism; Libertarian literature; Libertarianism;

The Ballad of Laurel Springs [electronic resource] : by Beard, Janet.aut; Araya, Jennifer Jill.nrt; Arndt, Andi.nrt; Eller, Robin.nrt; Pean, Angel.nrt; Thaxton, Candace.nrt; Tusing, Megan.nrt; Wu, Nancy.nrt; cloudLibrary;
From the internationally bestselling author of The Atomic City Girls, a provocative novel set in eastern Tennessee that “explores the legacies—of passion and violence, music and faith—that haunt one family across the generations” (Jillian Medoff, author of This Could Hurt). Ten-year-old Grace is in search of a subject for her fifth-grade history project when she learns that her four times-great grandfather once stabbed his lover to death. His grisly act was memorialized in a murder ballad, her aunt tells her, so it must be true. But the lessons of that revelation—to be careful of men and desire—are not just Grace’s to learn. Her family’s tangled past is part of a dark legacy in which the lives of generations of women are affected by the violence immortalized in folk songs like “Knoxville Girl” and “Pretty Polly” reminding them always to know their place—or risk the wages of sin. Janet Beard’s stirring novel, informed by her love of these haunting ballads, vividly imagines these women, defined by the secrets they keep, the surprises they uncover, and the lurking sense of menace that follows them throughout their lives even as they try to make a safe place in the world for themselves. “This inspired story of Appalachian folklore” (Publishers Weekly) will move and rouse you.
Subjects: Audiobooks.; Sagas; Contemporary Women; Small Town & Rural;
© 2021., Simon & Schuster,

Run for the hills : a novel / by Wilson, Kevin,1978-author.;
"An unexpected road trip across America brings a family together in this raucous and moving new novel from the bestselling author of Nothing to See Here. Ever since her dad left them twenty years ago, it's just been Madeline Hill and her mom on their farm in Coalfield, Tennessee. While she sometimes admits it's a bit lonely, and a less exciting a life than she imagined for herself, it's mostly ok. Mostly. Then one day, Reuben Hill pulls up in a PT Cruiser and informs Madeline that he believes she's his half-sister. Reuben-left behind by their dad thirty years ago-has hired a detective to track down their father and a string of other half siblings. And he wants Mad to leave her home and join him for the craziest kind of road trip imaginable to find them all. As Mad and Rube-and eventually the others-share stories of their father, who behaved so differently in each life he created, they begin to question what he was looking for with each new incarnation. Who are they to each other? What kind of man will they find? And how will these new relationships change Mad's previously solitary life on the farm? Infused with deadpan wit, zany hijinks, and enormous heart, RUN FOR THE HILLS is a sibling story like none other - a novel about a family forged under the most unlikely circumstances, and united by hope in an unknown future"--
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Novels.; Automobile travel; Family secrets; Interpersonal relations; Reunions; Secrecy; Siblings;

The Unicorn Woman [electronic resource] : by Jones, Gayl.aut; cloudLibrary;
"One of our greatest living authors."—Lauren LeBlanc, The Boston Globe Marking a dramatic new direction for Jones, a riveting tale set in the Post WWII South, narrated by a Black soldier who returns to Jim Crow and searches for a mythical ideal Set in the early 1950s, this latest novel from Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist Gayl Jones follows the witty but perplexing army veteran Buddy Ray Guy as he embodies the fate of Black soldiers who return, not in glory, but into their Jim Crow communities. A cook and tractor repairman, Buddy was known as Budweiser to his army pals because he’s a wise guy. But underneath that surface, he is a true self-educated intellectual and a classic seeker: looking for religion, looking for meaning, looking for love. As he moves around the south, from his hometown of Lexington, Kentucky, primarily, to his second home of Memphis, Tennessee, he recalls his love affairs in post-war France and encounters with a variety of colorful characters and mythical prototypes: circus barkers, topiary trimmers, landladies who provide shelter and plenty of advice for their all-Black clientele, proto feminists, and bigots. The lead among these characters is, of course, The Unicorn Woman, who exists, but mostly lives in Bud’s private mythology. Jones offers a rich, intriguing exploration of Black (and Indigenous) people in a time and place of frustration, disappointment, and spiritual hope.
Subjects: Electronic books.; Magical Realism; Historical;
© 2024., Beacon Press,

Run for the Hills A Novel [electronic resource] : by Wilson, Kevin.aut; Ireland, Marin.nrt; CloudLibrary;
Audiobook performed by Marin Ireland NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK BY: Time, People, LitHub, and BookRiot An unexpected road trip across America brings a family together, in this heartfelt new novel from the bestselling author of Nothing to See Here. Ever since her dad left them twenty years ago, it’s been just Madeline Hill and her mom on their farm in Coalfield, Tennessee. While it’s a bit lonely, she sometimes admits, and a less exciting life than what she imagined for herself, it’s mostly okay. Mostly. Then one day Reuben Hill pulls up in a PT Cruiser and informs Madeline that he believes she’s his half sister. Reuben—left behind by their dad thirty years ago—has hired a detective to track down their father and a string of other half siblings. And he wants Mad to leave her home and join him on a road trip to find them all. As Mad and Rube—and eventually the others—share stories of their father, who behaved so differently in each life he created, they begin to question what he was looking for with every new incarnation. Who are they to one another? What kind of man will they find? And how will these new relationships change Mad’s previously solitary life on the farm? Infused with deadpan wit and enormous heart, Run for the Hills is a sibling story like no other—a novel about a family forged under the most unlikely circumstances and united by hope in an unknown future.
Subjects: Audiobooks.; Literary; Family Life;
© 2025., HarperCollins,

Run for the Hills A Novel [electronic resource] : by Wilson, Kevin.aut; CloudLibrary;
NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK BY: Time, People, LitHub, and BookRiot An unexpected road trip across America brings a family together, in this raucous and moving new novel from the bestselling author of Nothing to See Here. Ever since her dad left them twenty years ago, it’s been just Madeline Hill and her mom on their farm in Coalfield, Tennessee. While it’s a bit lonely, she sometimes admits, and a less exciting life than what she imagined for herself, it’s mostly okay. Mostly. Then one day Reuben Hill pulls up in a PT Cruiser and informs Madeline that he believes she’s his half sister. Reuben—left behind by their dad thirty years ago—has hired a detective to track down their father and a string of other half siblings. And he wants Mad to leave her home and join him for the craziest kind of road trip imaginable to find them all. As Mad and Rube—and eventually the others—share stories of their father, who behaved so differently in each life he created, they begin to question what he was looking for with every new incarnation. Who are they to one another? What kind of man will they find? And how will these new relationships change Mad’s previously solitary life on the farm? Infused with deadpan wit, zany hijinks, and enormous heart, Run for the Hills is a sibling story like no other—a novel about a family forged under the most unlikely circumstances and united by hope in an unknown future.
Subjects: Electronic books.; Literary; Family Life;
© 2025., HarperCollins,

The Last Verse A Novel [electronic resource] : by Frost, Caroline.aut; Nash, Joy.nrt; cloudLibrary;
""This novel is sexy, suspenseful, and boot-spur sharp."" —Eli Cranor, Edgar-Award-winning author of Don't Know Tough  Set in the country music world of 1970s Nashville, a struggling musician writes a hit song that both promises her long-sought-after fame and implicates her in a heinous crime.  Nashville, 1977: A broken heart. A terrible crime. A song the world would sing. When aspiring musician Twyla Finch arrives in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1977, the nineteen-year-old Texan is dazzled by the fringe-and-rhinestones country music scene. Live music flows from bars, open mic nights tempt with the chance of stardom, and record label execs seek the next hot new act. As Twyla finds her way in this vibrant town, she soon falls for Chet Wilton, country music hopeful and son of blue-blooded Nashvillians. When a night out with Chet goes terribly wrong, Twyla finds herself involved in a shocking crime. Hoping to process what happened that fateful night, she composes a haunting ballad that she performs only once in an empty bar. But weeks later, when she turns on the radio, she hears another woman singing her song. Twyla must decide: Should she claim her ballad and secure the fame she’s always wanted? Or stay quiet and avoid implicating herself in the terrible crime she’s desperate to put in the past? Seductive and bold, tense and unflinching, The Last Verse is the story of a woman’s ambitions, obsessions, and determination to claim her voice.
Subjects: Audiobooks.; Coming of Age; Contemporary Women; Crime;
© 2024., HarperCollins,

Carson McCullers : a life / by Dearborn, Mary V.,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."The first major biography in more than twenty years of one of America's greatest writers, based on newly available letters and journals. V. S. Pritchett called her "a genius." Gore Vidal described her as a "beloved novelist of singular brilliance ... Of all the Southern writers, she is the most apt to endure ... " And Tennessee Williams said, "The only real writer the South ever turned out, was Carson." She was born Lula Carson Smith in Columbus, Georgia. Her dream was to become a concert pianist, though she'd been writing since she was sixteen and the influence of music was evident throughout her work. As a child, she said she'd been "born a man." At twenty, she married Reeves McCullers, a fellow southerner, ex-soldier, and aspiring writer ("He was the best-looking man I had ever seen"). They had a fraught, tumultuous marriage lasting twelve years and ending with his suicide in 1953. Reeves was devoted to her and to her writing, and he envied her talent; she yearned for attention, mostly from women who admired her but rebuffed her sexually. Her first novel--The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter--was published in 1940, when she was twenty-three, and overnight, Carson McCullers became the most widely talked about writer of the time. While McCullers's literary stature continues to endure, her private life has remained enigmatic and largely unexamined. Now, with unprecedented access to the cache of materials that has surfaced in the past decade, Mary Dearborn gives us the first full picture of this brilliant, complex artist who was decades ahead of her time, a writer who understood--and captured--the heart and longing of the outcast."--
Subjects: Biographies.; McCullers, Carson, 1917-1967.; Women novelists, American;

Rat city : overcrowding and urban derangement in the rodent universes of John B. Calhoun / by Adams, Jon,author.; Ramsden, Edmund,author.;
"How a landmark experiment in rat behavior changed the way we think about cities. In the decades following WWII, the American metropolis was in peril. Modern high rises hastily erected to replace slums became incubators of criminality, while civic unrest erupted across the nation. Enter John B. Calhoun, an ecologist employed by the National Institute of Mental Health to study the effects of overcrowding. Calhoun decided to focus his study on rats. From 1947 to 1977, Calhoun built a series of sprawling habitats in which a rat's every need was met -- except space. As the enclosures became ever more crowded, resident rats began to react to social stress, culminating in the terrifying world of Universe 25: a rodent habitat where escalating social disorder collapsed to violent extinction. Did a similar fate await our own teeming cities? Jon Adams and Edmund Ramsden's Rat City is the first book to tell the story of maverick scientist Calhoun and his now-viral experiments. Following the rats from the baiting pits of Victorian London to the laboratories of NIMH, and Calhoun from rural Tennessee to inner-city Baltimore, Rat City is an enthralling mix of dystopian science and urban history. Social design, housing infrastructure, a burgeoning current of racism in city planning: Calhoun influenced them all, and Rat City connects Calhoun's work to the politics of personal space, the looming threat of global overpopulation, and the eclipsing of environmental psychology by pharmaceutical psychiatry. As the "war on rats" continues to be waged around the world, and our post-pandemic society reevaluates the necessity of urban living, the riveting story of Rat City is more relevant than ever"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Personal narratives.; Calhoun, John B.; Ethologists; Human beings; Human ecology.; Overpopulation.; Rats; Rats; Urban ecology (Sociology);

Before we were yours : a novel / by Wingate, Lisa,author.;
"Two families, generations apart, are forever changed by a heartbreaking injustice in this poignant novel, inspired by a true story, for readers of Orphan Train and The Nightingale. Memphis, 1939. Twelve-year-old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings live a magical life aboard their family's Mississippi River shantyboat. But when their father must rush their mother to the hospital one stormy night, Rill is left in charge--until strangers arrive in force. Wrenched from all that is familiar and thrown into a Tennessee Children's Home Society orphanage, the Foss children are assured that they will soon be returned to their parents--but they quickly realize the dark truth. At the mercy of the facility's cruel director, Rill fights to keep her sisters and brother together in a world of danger and uncertainty. Aiken, South Carolina, present day. Born into wealth and privilege, Avery Stafford seems to have it all: a successful career as a federal prosecutor, a handsome fiance, and a lavish wedding on the horizon. But when Avery returns home to help her father weather a health crisis,a chance encounter leaves her with uncomfortable questions and compels her to take a journey through her family's long-hidden history, on a path that will ultimately lead either to devastation or to redemption. Based on one of America's most notorious real-life scandals--in which Georgia Tann, director of a Memphis-based adoption organization, kidnapped and sold poor children to wealthy families all over the country--Lisa Wingate's riveting, wrenching, and ultimately uplifting tale reminds us how, even though the paths we take can lead to many places, the heart never forgets where we belong"--
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Brothers and sisters; Kidnapping victims; Kidnapping; Orphanages; Families; Family secrets;

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