An 18th century Bible and nine other texts by Tennesseans and other influential figures in U.S. political history would be designated as the “official state books of Tennessee” under a bill sent Monday to Gov. Bill Lee for approval.
The bill’s sponsors said they seek to honor Tennessee’s cultural legacy and to promote the importance of reading and the diversity of the state’s people.
“We’ve got state songs, state poems, state reptiles, but we have no official state books,” the House sponsor State Rep. Gino Bulso, R-Franklin, said while arguing for the bill before a state House vote in February.
But critics said the list of texts — which ranged from the Chattanooga-raised Jon Meacham’s biography of Andrew Jackson to Alexis de Tocqueville’s landmark “Democracy in America” to Dolly Parton’s “Coat of Many Colors” — seemed like an arbitrary reading list with, in many cases, weak ties to Tennessee.