It started with a Chamber of Commerce. It turned out to be about a community.
A year of extension cords, accidental leadership, small-town politics, and learning what it actually means to embrace the local.
Published by More Taste Than Fortune Books
Publication date: November 10, 2026
Publisher contact: books@moretastethanfortune.com
October 2026 Pick of the Month · Donovan’s Literary Services
About the book
He didn’t set out to become a civic leader, he just wanted a glass of wine. After two, somebody hugged him, which is how they get you. Before he knew it, he found himself in charge of a scrappy, all-volunteer Chamber of Commerce in California’s Sierra Nevada foothills.
After twenty years solving complex organizational problems, the challenges should’ve been familiar enough: limited resources, competing priorities, overextended people, and an organization that needed to change.
But in a small, unincorporated town, the line between leading an organization and serving a community gets blurry fast.
Embracing the Local: Extension Cords and All follows one year of small-town leadership through a struggling economy, damaged Christmas trees, parade fees, volunteer exhaustion, bizarre phone calls, and at least one situation that sounded suspiciously deep-state for a nonprofit in the Sierras.
Applied organizational development in hiking boots.
Along the way, a man accustomed to finding solutions discovers what actually holds a community together. Beautiful places don’t run on charm alone. They run on tired people, fragile institutions, stretched businesses, thin trust, and the dangerous expectation that someone will always step up.
Funny when it shouldn't be, candid when it needs to be, and never intentionally sentimental, Embracing the Local is about the lure of belonging, the work of community, the limits of leadership, and the cost of helping.
Read field notes from Embracing the Local →
It’s for anyone who has ever volunteered, served on a board, tried to improve the place they live, wondered why the same six people seem to do everything, or discovered that “someone should really do something about that” is a surprisingly dangerous sentence.
Because loving a place is easy. Serving it well is harder.
Embracing the Local: Extension Cords and All by Glen Cantrell. Coming November 10. A memoir about the lure of belonging, the work of community, the limits of leadership, and the cost of helping.
“Cantrell’s voice is conversational, wry, and sharply observant.” — Kirkus Reviews
“You’ll laugh and cry as you read and see yourself reflected in his words.” — Deb Brown, SaveYour.Town
“…a compelling story for all readers…” — D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review
“Then somebody hugged me, which is how they get you.” — from Embracing the Local
For the people who keep it all running and the places they carry. With love.
Keep it local. Ask your librarian or favorite independent bookstore. moretastethanfortune.com.
Images show Twain Harte, the Highway 108 sign at Sonora Pass, a mountain lake, and Glen with his dog. An extension cord winds behind the photographs. The book and dedication remain as the background fades to deep green. Human Authored mark. Music: “Folk” by The_Mountain / Pixabay.
Read a sample
The prologue is short enough to read with your coffee and long enough to explain how a perfectly reasonable trip to a wine bar became a civic memoir.
“His humor is never simply decorative; it’s part of his narrative control, allowing him to move between the ridiculous and the meaningful without losing either.”
This review has been selected to appear in the December 1, 2026 issue of Kirkus Reviews magazine.
“An absorbing, powerful, and at times moving reading experience.”
Craig Jones for IndieReader · October 13, 2026
“Engagingly written and moving”
Read the full review →“The most notable aspects of this memoir are its focus on how volunteer groups interact, react, are managed (or not), and come together, and how civic leadership evolves.”
D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review
“a quick, funny, occasionally profound, and ultimately affecting read.”
“Overall, Embracing the Local is a book that doesn’t pretend to fix humanity’s issues but advocates for genuine human connections and interactions. It encourages readers to deepen their bonds with their communities by remaining connected and supportive.”
Community & leadership
“This book should be required reading for every small town chamber director, board member and volunteer. You’ll laugh and cry as you read and see yourself reflected in his words.”
Deb Brown · Former Chamber of Commerce director and co-founder of SaveYour.Town
“Cantrell makes civic memoir distinctive by turning volunteer decisions into a model for distributing responsibility, so organizations can continue beyond one leader.”
Reader response
“Honest self-assessments that examine triumphs and failures without lionizing or demonizing anyone”
Pre-order now. Paperback and eBook publish November 10, 2026.
BEST
If they don't have it on the shelf yet, your local bookseller can order Embracing the Local through Ingram. Find an indie bookstore near you.
BETTER
Prefer to support independent bookstores without leaving the couch? We respect the commitment to sitting. Bookshop.org has both the paperback and eBook.
OKAY
Paperback or eBook. You can get it everywhere else, too. We get it.
More ways to read & use the book
BORROW IT
Prefer to borrow it? Ask your local library to order Embracing the Local. Librarians can find ordering and acquisition details on The Trade.
READ IT TOGETHER
A discussion guide, facilitation prompts, and a reproduction license for book clubs, libraries, Chambers, boards, and organizations.
PROFESSIONAL READERS
Reviewers, librarians, booksellers, educators, journalists, and other professional readers can find advance copies, ordering information, press materials, and review resources on The Trade.
Book details
Human Authored Reg #: 4055716 — Authors Guild Human Authored certification for this title. Verify at authorsguild.org/human
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