Seven new books for reds and greens: slavery, antiscience, extraction, disruption, oil power, language, & planning
Ecosocialist Bookshelf is a monthly column, hosted by Ian Angus. Books described here may be reviewed at length in future. Inclusion of a book does not imply endorsement, or that C&C agrees with everything (or even anything!) it says. Climate & Capitalism has received review copies of some of these books, but we do not receive any payment for reviews or for reader purchases.
David McNally
SLAVERY AND CAPITALISM
A New Marxist History
University of California Press
Combining history, political economy, and radical abolitionism, McNally argues that plantation slaves formed a modern working class. He highlights their fights for freedom and reframes their resistance as labor struggles over production and reproduction. Essential reading for understanding the roots of racial capitalism.
Michael E. Mann and Peter J. Hotez
SCIENCE UNDER SIEGE
How to Fight the Five Most Powerful Forces that Threaten Our World
Public Affairs / Hachette
Two leading climate scientists take on the “highly organized, well-funded campaign of antiscience … that not only makes it nearly impossible to combat future pandemics or the climate crisis.” They identify five p’s—plutocrats, pros, petrostates, phonies, and the press—as the enemies of science and propose ways to counter their lies.
Nicholas Beurat
OR SOMETHING WORSE
Why We Need to Disrupt the Climate Transition
Verso
The push for net zero has become a new arena for class conflict, where the powerful profit and the rest suffer. Existing policies won’t limit global heating to anything close to a safe level. Beuret argues that we need to seize control of the transition and reshape it, noy only to stop climate change but to build a fairer future.
Nicholas Beurat
EXTRACTIVE CAPITALISM
How Commodities and Cronyism Drive the Global Economy
Verso
Whether it is pumping oil, mining resources, or shipping commodities across oceans, the global economy runs on extraction. In this wry and revealing account, Khalili exposes the dark truths behind the world’s most voracious industries.
Don Gillmor
ON OIL
Biblioasis
A short and compelling book by a journalist who formerly worked as a roughneck on oil rigs in Alberta. Gilmour examines how the industry dominates politics in Canada and elsewhere, and contributes to armed conflict and war across the world—as well as misdirecting conversations about environmentalism and frustrating efforts for change.
Genevieve Guenther
THE LANGUAGE OF CLIMATE POLITICS
Fossil Fuel Propaganda and How to Fight It
Oxford University Press
Yet another in the large genre of books that claim we can win the climate fight by changing the way we talk about it. This one is better than most at exposing our opponents’ propaganda tools.
Simon Hannah
RECLAIMING THE FUTURE
A Beginner’s Guide to Planning the Economy
Pluto Press
Economic planning is out of favor with mainstream economists, but in this time of devastating environmental crises, it might be the only thing that can save us. In this myth-busting and accessible guide, UK-based ecosocialist Simon Hannah makes the case for ending a system based on plunder and exploitation, and proposes steps towards aligning our economy with human needs and environmental limits