2025 summer book list

1) “Le monde sans fin” - translated in English “World without end”

This is a French comic or graphic novel by Jean-Marc Jancovici and Christophe Blain. This comic book explores with humor and educational clarity the mechanisms of a world in energy contraction and presents how to gently decarbonize human activities. Ecology is not a matter of morality but a question of physical laws and political courage.

Why we liked it: Science is important to understand but emotion is necessary to move. Culture is one of the most powerful tools to touch people. It could be music, cinema or comic strip.

2) The Real Economy: History and Theory by Jonathan Levy

In this book, Jonathan Levy offers a re-theorisation of what the economy is, rooting its definition in accounting logics—since, whatever the economy may be, it does not exist independently of our ability to account for it—and in the storage of wealth, around which our economies gravitate. Levy critiques key blind spots in mainstream economics—such as its neglect of radical uncertainty or its narrow notion of the profit motive—while also constructing a new framework through the work of economists like Keynes, Veblen, Hicks, and Fisher. 

Why we liked it: While any book attempting to re-conceptualise the economy in 300 pages is bound to fall short, Levy’s provocative work raises more questions than answers—in the best possible way.

3) Counterrevolution: Extravagance and Austerity in Public Finance by Melinda Cooper.

Melinda Cooper narrates the drastic changes that took place in the U.S. around the 1970s, as macroeconomic policy took a neoliberal turn and describes the negative socioeconomic impacts of this shift. She examines how this shift was deeply intertwined with issues of race and gender. 

Why we liked it: We found it particularly interesting how Cooper shows that the shift toward neoliberal policymaking was made possible by uniting previously disparate right-wing constituencies around a shared political agenda rooted in race and gender issues. The book doesn’t skimp on details—it is a rigorous, in-depth analysis that helps us understand how we arrived at the present moment, while also illuminating possible paths forward.

4) The Geopolitics of Green Colonialism: Global Justice and Ecosocial Transitions by Miriam Lang, Mary Ann Manahan and Breno Bringel (eds.)

The Geopolitics of Green Colonialism offers a powerful critique of the global energy transition, arguing that current climate policies risk entrenching colonial patterns of extraction under the guise of decarbonisation. Edited by a collective of scholars and activists from, or with deep experience in, the Global South, the book critically examines the material and ideological foundations of green capitalism. It reveals how the ongoing energy transition has been co-opted under the banner of a corporate-led, technocratic vision of climate action and used to justify the appropriation of Global South resources to sustain the North’s imperial mode of living. Drawing on decolonial, feminist, and political ecology frameworks, the contributors highlight structural dependencies and ongoing cases of green extractivism, advocating for alternative pathways rooted in grassroots resistance and eco-territorial justice. Far from a rejection of climate action, the book is a call to reclaim the transition as a truly emancipatory project — one that centres equity and ecological integrity.

Why we liked it: The book brings together diverse voices to imagine truly transformative alternatives, making inclusiveness and pluralism a core principle of its structure as well as its arguments. It’s a thought-provoking read that reminds us climate justice isn’t just about cutting carbon — it’s about changing the system.