Keel’s latest book places this colorful, long-serving judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in his comprehensive political and social context. Merritt was an early Kennedy Democrat in the South, a respected legal scholar, and lifelong opponent of the death penalty. To understand Merritt’s life and career, Hunt writes, is to know much about the political history of Tennessee and especially of modern Nashville.
“This social biography is a graduate course in Southern political history, and how that history is much more than campaigns and elections. It depicts a much deeper weave of the power of friendship and loyalty, the influence of history upon individuals and generations, and of how communities of interest formed and evolved over time in our nation—and of how it is all connected.”
—Parnassus Books
This illuminating portrait is based on extensive interviews with Merritt over the final year of his life and with 145 other individuals who knew him best. Read more
A Parnassus Books bestseller.
Also by Keel Hunt
After his early career in newspaper journalism, Keel was Special Assistant to Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander from 1979-1986. In this 1983 photo, Alexander was chair of the National Governors Association, and Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton was the NGA vice chair.