The month of March has a lot to recommend it, from warmer weather to the return of baseball to a diamond (and a television set) near you. Our recommended books for this month cover a lot of territory as well: there are a few that explore the inner workings of America’s pastime, while others offer trips into history both musical and military. Read on for a look at 11 new books we’re excited to crack open this month.
A.M. Gittlitz, Metropolitans: New York Baseball, Class Struggle, and the People’s Team (Mar. 31)
For a time, New York City was home to three Major League Baseball teams. Then the Giants and Dodgers headed west and only one remained — for a few years, anyway. And then a new club took root in Flushing, Queens, captivating the attention and imagination of many in the area. (Jonathan Lethem’s novel Dissident Gardens has an excellent riff on this.) A.M. Gittlitz’s new book Metropolitans explores both the history of the New York Mets and some of the personalities that have taken their place in team (and baseball) history.
Daniel Okrent, Stephen Sondheim: Art Isn’t Easy (Mar. 17)
It’s been five years since the death of Stephen Sondheim, whose work reshaped musical theater and added some memorable entries into the American songbook. If you’re in search of a reason to revisit Sondheim’s life and work, this new biography from Daniel Okrent — who has chronicled everything from Rockefeller Center to Prohibition in his previous book — is a great reminder of both the intricacies of Sondheim’s life and the greatness of his work.
Francis Spufford, Nonesuch (Mar. 10)
Some writers return to the same settings and styles again and again; others seek uncharted territory with each new book. Francis Spufford falls proudly into the latter category: his previous novel, the fantastic Cahokia Jazz, was a gripping mystery set in a compelling alternate timeline. It also followed books about everything from the Soviet Union to theology. Spufford’s latest involves the Blitz and time travel, and is the latest entry in a truly singular bibliography.
Katrina Manson, Project Maven: A Marine Colonel, His Team, and the Dawn of AI Warfare (Mar. 24)
Does the future of combat involve artificial intelligence? If you’ve been following headlines about Anthropic’s clashes with the Department of Defense, you’re getting a sense of how this technology might be used. That’s a field that Katrina Manson has covered as a reporter for years, and her new book Project Maven takes us back to a moment in 2017 where AI and combat converged dramatically.
Kevin Ashton, The Story of Stories: The Million-Year History of a Uniquely Human Art (Mar. 3)
There is something essential about telling stories, whether that takes the form of paintings on a cave wall, epic fantasy trilogies or shortform videos on TikTok. Kevin Ashton, the thinker who gave us the concept of the “internet of things,” takes on the full breadth of the history of storytelling in this new book; one recent review highlighted the ability of The Story of Stories to delineate the positive and negative aspects of this long journey.
Robert Coover, The Universal Baseball Association, Inc., J. Henry Waugh, Prop. (Mar. 17)
When it was first published in 1968, the New York Times had glowing things to say about Robert Coover’s The Universal Baseball Association, Inc., J. Henry Waugh, Prop.: “His atmosphere is turn-of-the-century early Lardner, when the game was in full swagger, but his averages are lively-ball 1930.” More recently, a Paris Review article on the novel hailed its continuing relevance in a world where fantasy sports are increasingly popular. Coover’s cult novel is both a book about sports like none other you’ll read and a testament to baseball’s enduring appeal.
Caroline Tracey, Salt Lakes: An Unnatural History (Mar. 17)
Where were you when you first discovered the existence of salt lakes? This likely has to do with how close you grew up to one; Salt Lake City residents, presumably, have a different take than lifelong residents of New Jersey. Regardless, salt lakes are an unexpected environmental phenomenon and one that’s increasingly at risk. As an environmental journalist, Caroline Tracey has covered this extensively; her new book takes the reader inside the origins of salt lakes and describes the existential threats they now face.
Simon Kuper, World Cup Fever: A Soccer Journey in Nine Tournaments (Mar. 3)
This summer, Canada, Mexico and the United States will host the 2026 World Cup — an event that will almost certainly feature stunning feats of athletic ability and tactical bravado. Over the course of his career thus far, Simon Kuper has chronicled the complex history of the sport in several acclaimed books. His latest delves deeply into the history of the World Cup, a subject Kuper has had plenty to say about recently.
Álvaro Enrigue, Now I Surrender (Mar. 3)
First things first: Álvaro Enrigue is the author of one of the most beguiling and compelling novels about sports ever. (That would be Sudden Death, in which a historical tennis match stands in for much of modern history.) Now I Surrender, translated by Natasha Wimmer, is a very different trip into history; it’s something of a Western that charts out the borders of nations and digs deeply into the conflicts that resonate across the decades.
Spotify Continues Its March Into the Book World
The app is rolling out a number of enticing features that not only elevate its audiobook experience, but facilitate reading physical books, too
Thomas W. Gilbert, Death in the Strike Zone: The Mystery of America’s First Baseball Hero (Mar. 24)
Over the course of several books, Thomas W. Gilbert has explored multiple aspects of baseball’s history, chronicling the lives of legendary names like Roberto Clemente as well as players whose names are nowhere near as well-known. His new book Death in the Strike Zone tells the story of James Creighton, who reinvented pitching before dying at the shocking age of 21. It’s a compelling trip into the sport’s history and the roots of a long-standing mystery.
Anna Harwell Celenza, On the Record: Music That Changed America (Mar. 24)
What does it mean for a piece of music to shape the destiny of a nation? That’s a subject that Johns Hopkins University professor Anna Harwell Celenza takes on in her new book, which looks at the way that songs from “The Star-Spangled Banner” to “Strange Fruit” have affected the U.S. Celenza’s previous books have covered everything from jazz in Italy to the work of George Gershwin, suggesting that we’re in store for a rigorous and wide-ranging trip into musical history.
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