Charles Reagan Wilson, "The Twenty-first Century South: What the New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture Tells Us about the Burden of the Southern Future." 7:15 p.m. Aug. 20. Talk and signing. Free. Decatur Library Auditorium, 215 Sycamore St., Decatur. 404-370-8450, Ext. 2225; www.georgiacenterforthebook.org/. The 1989 publication of the Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, produced jointly by the University of Mississippi's Center for the Study of Southern Culture and the University of North Carolina Press, was a monumental occasion. Several years ago, the center and the university decided on a new version of the encyclopedia, with each section of the original to be published as a separate volume, including "Foodways," "Language," "Folk Art" and "Ethnicity." To celebrate the final volume, "Race," Wilson, the series' editor, joins managing editor Jimmy Thomas and the center's director, Ted Ownby, for celebrations at various bookstores and festivals in the region. A Cappella Books will have copies of all 24 volumes of the series available for sale.
James McBride, "The Good Lord Bird." 8 p.m. Aug. 21. Talk and signing. $10. Atlanta History Center, 130 W. Paces Ferry Road N.W., Atlanta. 404-814-4150, www.atlantahistorycenter.com. From the best-selling author of "The Color of Water" comes an exploration of identity and survival in the story of a young boy born a slave who joins John Brown's anti-slavery crusade. When Brown, the legendary abolitionist, arrives in the Kansas Territory in 1857, he finds himself taking on a 10-year-old slave he mistakes for a girl — one who will accompany Brown and his men to the historic raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859.
Elizabeth D. Leonard, "All the Daring of the Soldier: Women and the American Civil War." 6:30 p.m. Aug. 22. Talk and signing. Free. Atlanta Cyclorama & Civil War Museum, 800 Cherokee Ave. S.E., Atlanta. 404-658-7625, www.atlantacyclorama.org/. In a new series of literary events to take place at the historic Cyclorama, Leonard, a professor of history, shines a light on one of the Civil War's best-kept secrets: Women, both African-American and white, sacrificed family life and risked their lives for the Confederacy and Union just like their male counterparts. Not only were they nurses, but many disguised themselves as men to fight in battle and served as spies, craving the thrill and adventure war offered.
Lindi Peterson, "Rich in Love." 6:30 p.m. Aug. 23. Signing. FoxTale Book Shoppe, 105 E. Main St., Woodstock. 770-516-9989, www.foxtalebookshoppe.com/. Author Karen White ("The Time Between") will introduce Peterson, whose new novel tells the story of a woman who finds herself in line to inherit millions, after the death of the father she never knew.
Sikivu Hutchinson, "Godless Americana: Race and Religious Rebels." 7:30 p.m. Aug. 23. Talk and signing. $5 suggested donation. Charis Books & More, 1189 Euclid Ave. N.E., Atlanta. 404-524-0304, www.charisbooksandmore.com/. In this timely essay collection, Hutchinson argues that the Christian evangelical backlash against women's rights, social justice, LGBT equality, and science threatens to turn back the clock on civil rights. As a result, more people of color are exploring atheism, agnosticism and free thought. In examining these trends, Hutchinson provides a groundbreaking analysis of faith and radical humanist politics in an era of racial, sexual and religious warfare.
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