So what do the writers at Memphis magazine's parent company Contemporary Media (CMI) do during their spare time? At last count, more than a dozen current and former staffers of CMI have written books.
Memphis Flyer senior editor John Branston's Rowdy Memphis is a collection of essays covering the dealmakers and the city's coreshakers, from former mayor E.H. "Boss" Crump to full-time Civil Rights Museum protestor Jacqueline Smith.
Ask Vance is a compilation of columns by Vance Lauderdale, addressing the lost histories of Memphis people and places with a snort-your-drink- through-your-nose humor.
No Memphis history would be complete without a look at its musical heritage. Former Flyer music editor John Floyd's Sun Records: An Oral History presents the folks who paved the way for this city's incredible legacy, and current Flyer music and film editor Chris Herrington's The Music that Made Memphis: 50 Years of Rock 'N' Roll fills in the rest of the story.
Former Memphis magazine and Flyer editor Tim Sampson's All Mimes Must Die is a compilation of his hilarious "We Recommend" columns, dating back from the earliest days of the Flyer.
Memphis magazine senior account executive Joy Bateman is the author and illustrator of The Art of Dining in Memphis, which features recipes from the city's most beloved restaurants. She has recently followed up this fine work with The Art of Dining in New Orleans.
Former Flyer reporter Phil Campbell's memoir Zioncheck for President: A True Story of Idealism and Madness in American Politics interweaves the story of a 1930s radical named Marion Zioncheck with Campbell's experiences as a Seattle political campaign manager.
Former Flyer reporter Paul Gerald is the author of 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Portland and Day and Overnight Hikes on Oregon's Pacific Crest Trail and was a contributing writer and editor for Oregon Fishing.
Last but certainly not least are books from our CMI leaders. Associate publisher Bruce VanWyngarden contributed to Aquarius Revisited: Seven Who Created the Sixties Counterculture, an eye-opening account of those '60s radicals (William Burroughs, Hunter Thompson, Timothy Leary, et al.) who shaped American culture and history. And speaking of history, you can't get more thorough than the standard school textbook, World History: Perspectives on the Past , compiled in part by CMI publisher Kenneth Neill.
More books to check out by former CMI-ers include: Barry Willis' The Strange Case of the Lost Elvis Diaries, David Dawson's Memphis: New Visions, New Horizons, and Judy Ringel's Children of Israel.
** Most of these books are available for purchase at our online store.
