Author Visit, The Fourth Branch
Join us for a visit and signing with Daniel Squadron, author of THE FOURTH BRANCH, How State Government Can Save Our Union, July 19th at 2pm.
Many Americans who care about politics are exhausted — and spending their energy in exactly the wrong place. The fights that determine minimum wage, healthcare access, school curriculums, voting rights, and the shape of Congress itself are happening in state legislatures, decided by lawmakers most people can't name, in sessions most people don't know are happening. Washington is loud, but state capitals are where the work gets done.
Exposing this gap—between where political attention goes and where political power actually lives—is the heart of Daniel Squadron’s THE FOURTH BRANCH: How State Government Can Save Our Union (June 9, 2026; Zando; $28.00 hardcover), and it has never been more urgent.
Squadron, a former New York State Senator and co-founder of The States Project (the largest state legislative organization in the country), delivers a powerful and refreshing case for how politics can move beyond the endless churn of Washington. Part handbook, part history, and part personal narrative, THE FOURTH BRANCH opens readers' eyes to the power structures of state legislatures, the overlooked arm of government that has done more harm and more good than any other in recent years.
Most crucially, with the 2026 midterms approaching, THE FOURTH BRANCH unpacks exactly how the states are the last and best line of defense for preserving competitive elections — and, through them, the future shape of Congress and the presidency itself. Squadron offers a galvanizing framework for getting involved, and a strategic counter to decades of conservative investment from groups like the Heritage Foundation, the architects of Project 2025.
As Sarah Jessica Parker writes in the book’s foreword, “THE FOURTH BRANCH will help us all do what we can with more clarity and impact. By explaining how power works in our country, and how we can be most effective, this book gives us a roadmap to improving America on every level.”