New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

Recent Books About New York State

Authors and publishers of new books related to New York State can have their books noticed on the New York Almanack by following the submission guidelines HERE.

Smugglers & Patriots in the 18th-Century Atlantic World

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ben_franklins_worldEmpire, slavery, and constant warfare interacted with each other in the Atlantic World. Which brings us to our question: In what ways did the Atlantic World and its issues contribute to the American Revolution?

In this episode of Ben Franklin’s World: A Podcast about Early American History, Tyson Reeder, an editor of the Papers of James Madison and author of Smugglers, Pirates, and Patriots: Free Trade in the Age of Revolution (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019), helps us see how smuggling and trade in the Luso-Atlantic, or Portuguese-Atlantic World contributed to the development and spread of ideas about free trade and republicanism.

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New Book On Early Black Poet Jupiter Hammon of Long Island

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Americas first black poetBook purchases made through this link support New York Almanack’s mission to report new publications relevant to New York State.

Stanley A. Ransom, Jr.’s new book America’s First Black Poet; Jupiter Hammon of Long Island (Outskirts Press, Inc., 2020) is a collection of poems and writings of Jupiter Hammon, who spent most of his life as a slave in Lloyd Neck, Long Island. [Read more…] about New Book On Early Black Poet Jupiter Hammon of Long Island

Melvil Dewey: Efficient, Inventive, Annoyingly Bigoted

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Book purchases made through this link support New York Almanack’s mission to report new publications relevant to New York State.

A new children’s book, The Efficient, Inventive (Often Annoying) Melvil Dewey (Calkins Creek, 2020) by Alexis O’Neill and illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham, is a colorful biography about the creator and implementer of the Dewey Decimal Classification system, who had a significant and lasting impact in libraries but ended his career in disgrace for his racist and sexist views. [Read more…] about Melvil Dewey: Efficient, Inventive, Annoyingly Bigoted

New Book: Buffalo at the Crossroads

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Buffalo at the CrossroadsBook purchases made through this link support New York Almanack’s mission to report new publications relevant to New York State.

The new book Buffalo at the Crossroads: The Past, Present, and Future of American Urbanism (Cornell University Press, 2020), edited by Peter H. Christensen, is an introduction to Buffalo’s architecture and developed landscape, featuring essays by twelve authors. [Read more…] about New Book: Buffalo at the Crossroads

Telling the Truth 2020: Conversations on Toxic Political Divisions

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telling the truth 2020The New York State Writers Institute at the University at Albany has announced Telling the Truth 2020 on November 11-18, a week-long series of in-depth conversations with authors, journalists, political observers, social critics, former public officials, and thought leaders examining the toxic divisions of America’s political landscape. [Read more…] about Telling the Truth 2020: Conversations on Toxic Political Divisions

Bean Pickers: Upstate Italian-American Immigrants

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Bean Pickers CoverThe book Bean Pickers, American Immigrant Portraits by Karen Foresti Hempson (Jacobs Press, Inc., 2019) focuses on eight true-life portrayals of Italian immigrants and their families, all beginning their American lives as summer bean pickers in Upstate New York.

The book features over one hundred authentic photos and documents, illustrating personal stories from the early twentieth century immigration wave, Prohibition, the Great Depression, and the Second World War. Each character finds his/her way out of poverty through such avenues as bootlegging, playing baseball, joining the military. [Read more…] about Bean Pickers: Upstate Italian-American Immigrants

A Lively New History of Barnard College Published

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a college of her ownBook purchases made through this link support New York Almanack’s mission to report new publications relevant to New York State.

The new book A College of Her Own: The History of Barnard (Columbia University Press, 2020) by Robert McCaughey offers a comprehensive and lively narrative of Barnard College from its beginnings to the present day. [Read more…] about A Lively New History of Barnard College Published

Scandal on Plum Island: A Commander Accused

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long island history project logoIn 1914, Major Benjamin Koehler faced a court martial on Plum Island, off the eastern end of the North Fork coast of Long Island.  A number of men under his command at the island’s Fort Terry had accused this career officer of immoral conduct. The resulting trial and verdict, after an initial flurry of notice in the press, is largely forgotten now.

Marian Lindberg, a lawyer with the Nature Conservancy and a former journalist, has gone to great lengths to retrieve Major Koehler’s ordeal from obscurity. Her book, Scandal on Plum Island: A Commander Becomes the Accused (East End Press), uncovers the possible motives for the court martial as well as the social and political climate surrounding it. [Read more…] about Scandal on Plum Island: A Commander Accused

A New Book About Schoharie’s Old Stone Fort

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The new book Old Stone Fort – Guardian of Schoharie County History Since 1772 by Jeff O’Connor features over 79 maps, illustrations, and photographs that help narrate the history of one of upstate New York’s oldest and most beloved museums. [Read more…] about A New Book About Schoharie’s Old Stone Fort

New Novel: The Power Line by Christopher Shaw

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Power Line by Chris Shaw What really happened at Donnelly’s Corners in the spring of 1929?

The question haunts the exciting and thought-provoking novel, The Power Line (Outskirts Press, 2020) by Christopher Shaw.

According to Shaw, the project began in the seventies when the guide and regional historian Abel St. Martin began recording the memories of older people around Saranac Lake and Lake Aurora in the Adirondacks. [Read more…] about New Novel: The Power Line by Christopher Shaw