Nashville | Richard Schweid

Nashville is a city of sublime contrasts, an intellectual hub built on a devotion to God, country music and the Devil's pleasures.Refined and raucous, it has long represented both culture and downright fun, capable of embracing pre-Civil war mansions and manners, as well as honky-tonk bars and trailer parks. Nouvelle cuisine co-exists with barbeque and cornbread; the Frist Museum of Contemporary Art is nearby the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.Nashville has, in less than eighty years, transformed from a small, conservative, Bible-thumping city into a booming metropolis.Nashvillian Richard Schweid tells the history of how it all came to pass, and colourfully describes contemporary Nashville and the changes and upheavals it has gone through to make it the Souths most exciting and thriving city."Authentic and insightful, Schweid's new book chronicles how Nashville became America's 'It City, ' a hub of entertainment and culture--a place advocates of the New South never foresaw. A must-read for natives and visitors alike." - Frank Sutherland, former editor-in-chief of The Tennessean