This month’s stack ranges widely—across centuries, ecosystems, political ideals, and interior lives—but these writers are interested in systems, whether civic, artistic, environmental, or familial, and in the human habits that sustain or strain them. Some look backward for guidance, others outward to land and weather, still others inward to memory and craft.
The Spirit of Philadelphia
Chris Gibson
Routledge, 2025, $29.99
Former congressman and Kinderhook native Chris Gibson’s The Spirit of Philadelphia is a clear-eyed call for Americans to reclaim the pragmatic, collaborative ethos that animated the Constitutional Convention. Drawing on political philosophy, military experience, and a lifetime in public service (Gibson represented the Hudson Valley in Congress from 2011-2017), he argues that the country’s current dysfunction stems less from policy battles than from drifting away from the Founders’ realist assumptions about human nature and shared purpose. The result reads as both diagnosis and civic pep talk—a plea to recover the balance, moderation, and common sense that once held the republic together.
I Am You
Victoria Redel
SJP LIT, 2025, $28
Victoria Redel’s new historical novel I Am You brings the Dutch Golden Age vividly to life through the intertwined stories of painter Maria van Oosterwijck and her maid Gerta Pieters, who first entered Maria’s world while passing as a boy. Redel, a poet as well as a novelist who lives in Putnam County, renders the tactile work of mixing pigments and making images with sensual precision. As Gerta’s talent emerges, the relationship between muse, student, and lover grows more complex, raising timeless questions about authorship, identity, and the privileges that shape who gets to be an artist. A rich, absorbing read.
From the Millpond to the Sea: One River, Three Tributaries, Four Dams
Akiko Busch
Excelsior Editions, 2025, $24.95
In From the Millpond to the Sea, Akiko Busch offers a richly observed narrative rooted in the Hudson River watershed, where 67 tributaries feed America’s great river—and more than half are blocked by long-obsolete dams. With ecological urgency and lyrical clarity, Busch follows four sites in this landscape to explore how dams shape biodiversity, water flow, and human memory. Part ecology, part cultural reflection, the book argues for reconnecting free-flowing waterways as a way to heal both land and psyche. Thoughtful and regionally grounded, it invites readers to rethink our ties to water and place.
The Breath of the Gods: The History and Future of the Wind
Simone Winchester
Harper, 2025, $19.86
Simon Winchester, the acclaimed author of The Professor and the Madman and Western Massachusetts resident, turns his storyteller’s eye to an invisible yet elemental force in The Breath of the Gods. In this engaging narrative, Winchester explores how wind has shaped human history, from ancient sailing and windmills to the modern challenges of extreme weather and climate change. Part science, part cultural odyssey, the book weaves meteorology, engineering, literature, and human curiosity into a sweeping account of air in motion. Thoughtful and wide-ranging, Breath of the Gods invites readers to rethink the dynamic breath that surrounds us all.
Homeschooled: A Memoir
Stefan Merrill Block
Hanover Square Press, 2026, $21
In Homeschooled: A Memoir, Stefan Merrill Block traces a childhood shaped by illness, isolation, and a fiercely unconventional education. Best known as a novelist, Block brings a clear-eyed, emotionally precise voice to this account of being pulled from traditional schooling after a medical diagnosis, then raised largely at home by eccentric, devoted parents. The result is a coming-of-age story about learning how to think, read, and belong outside prescribed systems. Now a co-owner of Björn Qorn and Skate Time 209 in Accord, Block’s memoir reflects a lifelong negotiation between independence and community, rendered with intelligence, humor, and hard-earned compassion.
