Together, We Can
Welcome to our fall issue. We’re so glad to have you.
Hospitality is a curious act in trying times: it reminds us of our mutual humanity and our shared responsibilities. It feeds both the giver and the receiver at the soul level. There’s power in knowing we’re not alone, and that our stories are connected to those of others. That together, we can confront and counteract desperate and devastating news stories. Indeed: connection itself is an act of resistance.
Each issue, we celebrate libraries and bookstores as locations where communities can congregate—modern forums, piazzas of sorts. They’re rich sites for those who want to learn, to interact, and to share resources. But there are other natural places to gather and find mutual support too, as this issue reminded us: we can do so around the table. As my husband, James Beard finalist Chef Eric Patterson, says, human beings “have always found solace and safety in gathering to eat with each other.”
Michael Twitty makes note of this in his new book, Recipes from the American South, declaring that Southern cuisine is all about “resourcefulness, celebration, and survival,” and that each meal represents both history and future-writing: “These aren’t just recipes; they are the pleasure and pain of millions of women, men, and children who have come before and the heritage and legacy of millions to come.” And in Heartland Masala, the cookbook she cowrote with her son, Jyoti Mukharji reflects on how the lives she touched through food also informed her sense of self: “that my classes have not only inspired countless connections with the local Kansas City community, but also strengthened and deepened my bond with India, is a curious and beautiful thing.”
So please consider this issue an invitation. (A list of all the reviews in the September/October 2025 issue of Foreword Reviews can be found here.) Use the recipes in its cookbooks, and the stories of its pages, as jumping off points to reach out to the people around you. Nurture one another in all the ways that you can, remembering that we are powerful together.
Sincerely,
Michelle Anne Schingler
Editor in Chief
mschingler@forewordreviews.com
Did you know we pick out the most compelling books from every issue of Foreword Reviews for a series of reviewer-author interviews? That’s right, every Thursday, our digital newsletter Foreword This Week spotlights our top reviewers pitching a set of provocative questions to the authors of the books they admire. Sign up here and join the thousands of readers who relish these entertaining conversations between literary hotshots.
Michelle Anne Schingler
