Let’s be honest. We writers dream that the books that live inside us will find their way into bookstores, libraries, and homes, will come to life in the hands of avid readers under shady hammocks or in favorite chairs. These books will have splendid covers and rave reviews that honor the love we put into the process. But for many aspiring writers, the journey between finishing a manuscript and launching a book is veiled in mystery. The cogs and wheels of publishing are strangely opaque to the authors themselves. This Birthing the Book Series will both illuminate the process, and more importantly celebrate authors who have recently “birthed” their books.

Betsy Phillips' Dynamite Nashville: Unmasking the FBI, the KKK, and the Bombers Beyond their Control is an enlightening and crucial exploration into the racial terrorism that laid the groundwork for the Civil Rights Movement in Nashville, Tennessee. Through meticulous research and engaging storytelling, Phillips brings to light the sinister network of racists who, under the cloak of anonymity and with the aid of conflicting law enforcement priorities, carried out bombings of homes, schools, and religious buildings, terrorizing communities and evading justice for decades.

This Birthing the Book event will be moderated by the Nashville Scene's Digital Editor Kim Baldwin.

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Betsy Phillips has written for the Nashville Scene and the Washington Post. Her fiction has appeared in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and Apex Magazine, among others. She was named 2019 Best Historian in the Best of Nashville edition of the Nashville Scene and has served on the board of Historic Nashville, Inc. She lives in Whites Creek, Tennessee.

“You don’t know Nashville—the South, or America’s dark soul—until you’ve read Dynamite Nashville. Betsy Phillips' true stories tell us who we are. Her unique voice—personal, funny and tragic—should be listened to and savored.” — former U.S. Representative Jim Cooper

"Phillips' patience, attention to detail, and dogged determination have provided us with a work that not only describes these events in sharp detail but names the villains responsible for these cowardly actions and in many instances the villains who allowed them to fade into obscurity. "  — Dr. Learotha Williams, Jr., professor of history at Tennessee State University and editor of I’ll Take You There: Exploring Nashville’s Social Justice Sites