University of Tennessee Press

Sister Sandra Smithson, a Black Franciscan nun from Tennessee, lived her extraordinary life on the forefront of change. A passionate educator, she was committed to working directly with disadvantaged students and strived to reform local and national education policy to better serve these children until her death in 2022 at age 96. Smithson first joined the School Sisters of St. Francis in 1954, one of the only orders of nuns who accepted African American women at the time, and made it her mission to challenge the status quo in her community and her church, even when it put her at great personal risk. In Sister Sandra by Theresa Laurence, Smithson's expansive life and legacy is recorded for the first time, from her educational ministry in South America, to cofounding a nonprofit in Middle Tennessee that served children and advocated for policy change in public education. Thoughtful, opinionated, and beholden only to God's will and her own conscience, Smithson often tread on the margins of society and the church, working throughout her long life to "bring good news to the poor" and raise her voice for the voiceless. She was an unforgettable real-life hero who followed God's call regardless of the power structures stacked against her as a Black woman. At its core, Sister Sandra provides a unique look at the life and work of an African American nun during times of tumultuous change in both the American and the global South. It weaves together an intimate personal narrative of Smithson's life while also documenting the Black Catholic history of Nashville, making this text a singular and essential resource on Catholic Church history in Tennessee, the South, and the US as a whole.

In Civil War Photo Forensics, author Scott Hippensteel reconsiders iconic photographs from the American Civil War in a completely new light, questioning everything we have been taught about the images and their significance. Employing new scientific techniques to investigate the timing, location, and authenticity of photographs taken by Alexander Gardner, Mathew Brady, Timothy O'Sullivan, and their contemporaries, Hippensteel provides fresh insights into the motivations behind these pioneers in battlefield photography. As the first battlefield photojournalists, these documentarians and their work deserve a critical and scientific treatment of this order. In addition to their historical value, Hippensteel's study demonstrates that the degree of manipulation present in many of the most famous Civil War "combat" photographs should make us contemplate whether an image is more a work of art than an unbiased example of front-line reporting. Complete with 128 high-quality images, Civil War Photo Forensics will be a welcome addition to the bookshelves of Civil War and photography enthusiasts.

In his twenties, broke, brokenhearted, and fearful about the future, Jeremy Lloyd stumbled into a job that would change his life. More than two decades later, still an educator at Tremont in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Lloyd recounts his journey as a teacher and student of the great outdoors in Forest Time: Footnotes to an Outdoor Education. Blending natural history, daring—and sometimes foolish—adventure, and spiritual balm for a world suffering from widespread disconnection from nature, Forest Time is equal parts personal, educational, and existential. Lloyd's stories about his work as an educator at an overnight nature center are filled with humility and conviction, examining his relationships to the forests, mountains, and rivers he calls home.Wrestling with the intersections between the wild natural landscape, high-volume tourism, and the national park system, Lloyd's explorations are born from his extensive experience and personal relationship with the park. His voice and candor are as refreshing and distinctive as the natural environment he writes about, reminding readers that the mountains are not only national treasures but also a remedy for modernity's errors and a cultural malaise fixated on material gain and ultimate safety and comfort. Vulnerable, hilarious, and widely accessible, Forest Time fits appropriately on shelves beside the works of Edward Abbey, Annie Dillard, and Kevin Fedarko.

Richly illustrated and easily accessible, Appalachian Plants draws on centuries of botanical, cultural, and spiritual connections to the land as it invites readers of all ages into the vibrant world of southern Appalachia. Featuring regional staples such as ramps, tobacco, pawpaw, mountain mint, and white pine alongside more recent horticultural additions like rhubarb, persimmons, and sugar maples, the book presents a layered portrait of Appalachian flora. While author Linda Hager Pack provides scientific names and physical characteristics of each plant, her work goes beyond botany as each entry is enlivened with Native American legends, traditional folk remedies, historic recipes, and Appalachian lore that reveal the deeply rooted significance of plants in this storied region. The book honors the long history of plant use among the Cherokee and other Native American peoples of Appalachia, who developed sophisticated systems of herbal medicine, seasonal harvesting, and spiritual practices. From white pine salves to pawpaw fruit tonics, their knowledge shaped generations of land stewardship and ecological understanding. Additionally, European settlers brought seeds, farming practices, and folk beliefs from their home countries as well, adapting Old World crops and customs to mountain life. Meanwhile, African American enslaved people, servants, and free men and women also contributed a wealth of agricultural knowledge and medicinal plant traditions, immeasurably influencing the evolution of Appalachian foodways and herbal practices. This blending of traditions created a rich ethnobotanical legacy, one rooted in survival, community, and respect for the natural world. Featuring beautiful watercolor illustrations by Pat Banks and supported by instructional resources, this book serves both as a unique field guide and a cultural history of Appalachia. It invites readers to explore not just the uses of plants, but the stories they carry—across generations, geographies, and peoples—within the living landscape of Appalachia.

In the early days of the Cold War, the United States Army underwent a fundamental shift in its strategic thinking. While World War II was won on a doctrinal paradigm of combined arms, the US Army of the 1950s believed that atomic weapons would change how international conflicts were won and lost. Training officers in atomic warfare was a challenge, since there was little real-world experience on which to draw. Initially resistant to atomic weapons, the Army evolved through school debates among traditionalists, tech-driven "Buck Rogers" visionaries, and integrators who unified old and new methods. Facing classified data gaps, Army schools sparked cognitive shifts while the maneuver-fires inversion redefined warfare. By the early 1960s, with the Vietnam War centered in the minds of US military leadership and the public, doctrine and professional military education for atomic warfighting faded as the stark realities of fighting in Vietnam settled in. In Training for Atomic Warfare, Lieutenant Colonel Brad Hardy presents a unique view into the history of the US Army's strategic shift toward—and then away from—atomic warfare. Moving chronologically, each of the book's five chapters catalogs a segment of years between 1945 and 1960, showcasing how changes in US defense policy and technology reflected the Army's doctrine and education. Training for Atomic Warfare draws compelling parallels between the army of the 1950s and the current decade, demonstrating how shifts in military methodologies reflect the character of changing global conflicts and international policy.

True crime meets family memoir in this gripping story of faked death In 1931, Boss Bingham, the head cashier of Hardin County Bank in Saltillo, Tennessee, faked his death from a fiery auto accident and fled west to escape allegations of fraud and embezzlement. While his three children believed he was dead, Bingham reinvented himself as Marvin Lester Brooks, a rancher in Sherwood, Texas, where he married and raised a second family. Upon his death four decades later, he became a man with two tombstones. In Boss Brooks: A True Story of Fraud, Family, and Forgiveness from Tennessee to Texas, Bingham's granddaughter Kathy Bingham Turner and journalist Leon Alligood uncover the truth about Boss's deception and explore the impacts on both his families. Through meticulous research and personal reflections, the authors delve into the history of rural Tennessee and Texas, revealing the complex legacy of a man whose final confession came only after suffering a stroke in 1972. A gripping memoir of family secrets revealed, Boss Brooks offers a compelling blend of historical context and personal discovery. Turner and Alligood have produced a captivating saga that helps us understand the multifaceted nature of family legacies.

One of the most notorious German spies of the twentieth century, Lothar Witzke lived a life that reads like a thriller. Convicted of espionage in 1918, he was the only German spy sentenced to death by the United States during World War I. After the war, he was pardoned by President Calvin Coolidge, only to be later accused of responsibility for one of the most spectacular acts of sabotage in US history: the Black Tom munitions depot explosion. After being repatriated to Germany, Witzke lived in Latin America and China as a German expat and later joined the Nazi party. He ran espionage squads in Great Britain during World War II and became a prominent businessman in Hamburg after the war. He was killed in Hamburg in 1962, possibly by an East German agent as payback for suspected double agent work on behalf of the British. With Citizen of the Shadows, the first full biography of Witzke, Paul Friedland and Robert Hornick trace Witzke's morally complicated life and show readers how an infamous spy thrived in the interwar years and after. They probe his trial, conviction, and pardon, and analyze whether Witzke was really involved in the Black Tom explosion. In doing so, the authors uncover that many of the details of Witzke's life—long assumed to be true—were lies.

Knoxville native Charlie Tombras may be best known for founding nationally recognized advertising firm the Tombras Group, but in his moving memoir, From out of the Smokies: Stories of Fly Fishing and Life, he chronicles his personal journey, letting business take a backseat.   Born and raised in the Smokies, Tombras grew up exploring mountains and streams, fostering an appreciation for nature and fly fishing that would follow him through a tour of duty in Vietnam and into adulthood. With a relatable, often humorous storytelling style, Tombras recollects adventures spanning eight decades and the resulting lessons of friendship, loss, and love that he learned along the way. Emphasizing the value of hard work and perseverance, Tombras thoughtfully examines his lifelong love of fly fishing and leaves no stone unturned as he takes readers from childhood to adulthood with impressively vivid memories and captivating prose. From exhilarating tales of white water canoeing in Northern Labrador to grief-stricken seasons of loss, Tombras’s memoir explores a vast array of spirit and adventure that provides a nuanced portrait of a successful man—in business and in life.   Through his sporting adventures and other personal experiences, Tombras continues to learn how to weather storms in whatever shape they may take and how to grow in the face of adversity. Much like Tombras’s beloved rivers, From Out of the Smokies will inspire readers to accept and marvel at forces beyond our control.