A bookstore’s allure lies in the quiet promise of discovery. Your “To Read” list—a meticulous inventory of what you absolutely must know—is forgotten amid thousands of unknown titles. Thumbing through pages of words written by an unfamiliar name, it feels like every recommendation, every anticipated sequel, was merely a prelude to a serendipitous encounter. You left all intention at the doormat of the fantastical store, and so the book that now rests in the crook of your arm surely must have been conjured by fate.

Though it’s almost magical that independent bookstores still thrive, defying the dominance of Amazon and the steady decline in American readership, these “chance meetings” with physical books are carefully curated. In any independent bookstore, there is an intimacy between the browser and the bookseller. Out of the millions of books in the world, only a select few are deemed important enough to end up on shelves—in the case of Autumn Leaves Bookstore, roughly 60,000.

“It’s been a childhood fantasy of mine to work in a bookstore, to have a bookstore, to be a part of a bookstore,” said Ramsey Kanaan, co-founder of PM Press, the independent radical publishing company that acquired Ithaca’s Autumn Leaves Books in 2023.

At 17, Kanaan began scouting spaces in Edinburgh, Scotland, the closest big city to his small hometown of Stirling, determined to start his own radical bookstore inspired by those he cherished growing up. Thwarted by high rents in Edinburgh and later in Oakland, California, it wasn’t until 40 years later that the Scottish-Lebanese publisher finally saw his long-held vision come to life.

PM Press, Kanaan tells me, mostly publishes non-fiction books, though they do dabble in fiction, poetry, arts, and culture. The variety of published works is across the spectrum. “That said,” Kanaan adds, “we’re definitely not across the spectrum in terms of our politics. We’re decidedly, and fairly explicitly, very left-wing.” Autumn Leaves still functions as the expansive used bookstore that it’s been since the 1990s, yet the publishing company’s influence on the store is unmistakable. 

 “As a publisher, PM Press holds dear to the perhaps quaint and old-fashioned idea that, at this point, ideas actually matter,” Kanaan says. “So in that crude sense, we’re propagandists.” The storefront has become a practical hub for PM Press to sell its published titles directly. Thus, Autumn Leaves is decorated with titles such as Katie Tastrom’s A People’s Guide to Abolition and Disability Justice, Josh Fernandez’s The Hands That Crafted the Bomb: The Making of a Lifelong Antifascist, and a spinning display shelf filled with pamphlets ranging from guides on forming an affinity group to 20 Reasons to Abandon Christianity. By definition, this selection is what makes Autumn Leaves a radical bookstore, but what makes Autumn Leaves a good radical bookstore, according to Kanaan, extends beyond these obviously radical titles. 

Kanaan’s inclination towards anarchism was developed by reading. It wasn’t political theory by Emma Goldman, Noam Chomsky, or David Graeber that were at his disposal as a child, he explained, but stories by authors like George Orwell and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn that invoked political quandary. “By the time I sat down and read Emma Goldman, I was kind of nodding my head, meaning, yeah, that’s what I’ve been thinking,” said Kanaan. He didn’t attribute this to being any sort of genius; it was just his distillation of good literature. 

Beyond the PM Press collection and an expansive trove of Marxist literature, the shelves boast sizable sections devoted to romance, horror, science fiction, and nature.“For ideas to work, they don’t have to be didactic,” Kanaan said. 

He doubts that any of the authors in the romance section are anarchists, but he still believes that providing access to literature is transformative. For that reason, he remains committed to making even the romance section expansive and full of quality reads. 

Kanaan’s approach to curation is rooted in the idea that accessibility to ideas—even those that fundamentally oppose his own—is essential. “One of the jokes we have is that we should actually have a bookcase called ‘fascists that we like,’” he quipped. “We stock loads of books by people who were, in their time, card-carrying fascists.” Autumn Leaves displays these books on its shelves but also sells PM Press football scarfs emblazoned with “ALWAYS ANTI-FACIST.” It can seem as though the store is campaigning against some of its own selection. 

But for Kanaan, the rationale is clear: removing books based on an author’s personal politics would leave the shelves nearly bare. Plenty of literature deemed profound is written by authors whose morals many may find repugnant. Consider Jack Kerouac, who Kanaan described as a “conservative asshole.” On the Road is a highly celebrated book, but still receives reviews that criticize his hedonistic pursuit of freedom. 

“Ideas are complicated,” Kanaan emphasized. The bookstore’s mission is not to shield readers from complexity. Then again, some cases aren’t so complex. If an author sells, Autumn Leaves will continue to stock them—an ironic balancing act, where anarchist ideals coexist with the practicalities of running a business in a capitalist country. “Ayn Rand is not a fascist. Ayn Rand is fucking garbage,” Kanaan said. “We have all of her books.” 

Established over 30 years ago, Autumn Leaves has become an integral part of Ithaca's cultural fabric. Yet, for Kanaan, the concept of "community" remains elusive. It’s a word frequently invoked but rarely defined. So, what about Ithaca is conducive to a radical bookstore? Affordable rent, readily available infrastructure, and family ties were factored into Kanaan’s decision, but he refrained from participating in Ithaca’s commercial tradition of defining what, exactly, it is. Yes, “Ithaca is Gorges,” but what else? 

“I think a bookstore has a responsibility to [make] a better Ithaca,” Kanaan reflected. “I don’t have a responsibility to Ithaca. I have a responsibility, as a human being, to building a better world.” Autumn Leaves Bookstore is overt in their support of Palestine with “Free Palestine” soccer jerseys hung on the wall and books such as Interviews with Radical Palestinian Women visible on display shelves. But Kanaan asks, “Is that reflective of Ithaca? Actually, I don't think so. Is it reflective of a certain section of Ithaca? Sure. Is it reflective of a wider Ithaca? I'm actually not sure, to be honest.” 

Ideas are complicated, all the more reason for Autumn Leaves to carry books on both Marxist theory and capitalist economics. The Marxist books are placed in the politics section on the first floor and Adam Smith goes in the business section, located in the basement. 

Each book carries its own intent, but curation gives it new meaning, tying it to something larger. Autumn Leaves doesn’t define Ithaca through its shelves—it asks what Ithaca could be.

Cover art by Sam Wagner