Those you who’ve read this week’s cover story, or who are regular Pulse readers, recognize Cody Maxwell’s byline. For several years, Cody has been a unique voice in our pages, covering everything from the hidden city lurking below familiar streets, to the Chattanooga connection to the Scottsboro Boys, to the looming scandal of Patten Towers (his story on this ran two years ago).
We’re delighted to report that this talented writer now has a book out: “Chattanooga Chronicles,” published by the History Press. As the publisher says, “Chattanooga’s history is as storied and complex as any Southern city that was born in the early days of the America and came of age during the Civil War, but not every Southern city has a writer like Cody Maxwell.”
Some of the stories recounted in the book began as Pulse articles (“The Great Flood,” “Haywood Patterson Is Dead and Gone,” “The Hotel Patten”), while others were written especially for the book. All are enthralling tales of the city we live in, told by a master storyteller.
From the afterword of “Chattanooga Chronicles: ” We must listen to those workmen who shoveled river mud from the city streets after the floods, to Andy Williams and his skunk-sprayed girlfriend and to all the old black men locked up in prison like that young boy Haywood Patterson. To understand the spirit of Chattanooga, we must listen to the symphony of all those lives as inconsequential as our own. We must tell our sons to look past themselves—past us, even—and to remember the stories of all those now-forgotten people who were once as bright and alive as we all are.”
On July 20, from 2-4 p.m., Cody Maxwell will sign “Chattanooga Chronicles” at Winder Binder Gallery and Bookstore, 40 Frazier Ave. (423) 413-8999.