Rim to River: Looking Into the Heart of Arizona (2024) The Road was Full of Thorns: Running Toward Freedom in the American Civil War (2025) Tom Zoellner is the author of nine nonfiction books, including "Island on Fire: The Revolt That Ended Slavery in the British Empire," winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for the best nonfiction book of 2020, and "The Road Was Full of Thorns: Running Toward Freedom in the American Civil War." He teaches at Chapman University and is an editor-at-large for the Los Angeles Review of Books. Raised in Tucson, he now lives in Los Angeles.

Tucson Sentinel, Booth #406 (Seats 1)
Sat, Mar 14, 2:00 pm - 2:30 pm
History / Biography

Author: Tom Zoellner

Rim to River: Looking into the Heart of Arizona Tom Zoellner walked across the length of Arizona to come to terms with his home state. But the trip revealed more mountains behind the mountains. Rim to River is the story of this extraordinary journey through redrock country, down canyons, up mesas, and across desert plains to the obscure valley in Mexico that gave the state its enigmatic name. The trek is interspersed with incisive essays that pick apart the distinctive cultural landscape of Arizona: the wine-colored pinnacles and complex spirituality of Navajoland, the mind-numbing stucco suburbs, desperate border crossings, legislative skullduggery, extreme politics, billion-dollar copper ventures, dehydrating rivers, retirement kingdoms, old-time foodways, ghosts of old wars, honky-tonk dreamers, murder mysteries, and magical Grand Canyon reveries. In Rim to River, Zoellner does for Arizona what Larry McMurtry did for Texas in In a Narrow Grave and what Wallace Stegner did for Utah in Mormon Country: paint an enduring portrait of a misunderstood American state. An indictment, a love letter, and a homecoming story all at once.

University of Arizona Press, Booth #247 (Seats 1)
Sat, Mar 14, 3:00 pm - 3:50 pm
Memoir / Essays / Creative Nonfiction

Author: Tom Zoellner

Throughout U.S. history, individuals and groups have worked to influence the course of American democracy and equality. This panel of authors will show how past decisions have shaped the nation and highlight the people who challenged that history in pursuit of a more perfect union.

Integrated Learning Center Room 150 (Seats 155, Wheelchair accessible)  
Sun, Mar 15, 10:00 am - 10:55 am
Multigenre
Signing area: Sales & Signing Area - Integrated Learning Center (following presentation)  

Panelists: Cynthia Levinson, Sanford Levinson, Tom Zoellner
Moderator: Catherine Alonzo

Caleb Gayle, “Black Moses,” Carrie Gibson, "The Great Resistance" and Tom Zoellner, “The Road Was Full of Thorns,” discuss their work to chronicle the generational search for freedom and identity.

Integrated Learning Center Room 130 (Seats 143, Wheelchair accessible)  
Sun, Mar 15, 4:00 pm - 4:55 pm
History / Biography
Signing area: Sales & Signing Area - Integrated Learning Center (following presentation)  

Panelists: Caleb Gayle, Carrie Gibson, Tom Zoellner
Moderator: Catherine O'Donnell