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.
Mariah Blake
THEY POISONED THE WORLD
Life and Death in the Age of Forever Chemicals
Penguin Random House
A shocking investigation of the chemical industry’s decades-long campaign to hide the dangers of forever chemicals, told through the story of a small town on the frontlines of an epic public health crisis. At every step, the industry’s deceptions were aided by the government’s appallingly lax regulatory system—a system that has made us all guinea pigs in a vast, uncontrolled chemistry experiment.
Matt Simon
A POISON LIKE NO OTHER
How Microplastics Corrupted Our Planet and Our Bodies
Island Press
The plastic pollution we can see is the least dangerous part of the plastic plague. In the environment, plastic breaks into ever-smaller pieces. Tiny fragments, too small to see, have entered our blood streams and vital organs, carrying at least 10,000 different chemicals that don’t exist in nature, chemicals that are linked to diseases from diabetes to hormone disruption to cancers.
Sharon Udasin and Rachel Frazin
POISONING THE WELL
How Forever Chemicals Contaminated America
Island Press
PFAS, the ‘forever chemicals’ found in everyday products, from cooking pans to mascara, can now be found in the bodies of just about everyone. The petrochemical knows the danger this poses for human health, but actively resists every attempt to limit production. Udasin and Frazin trace an ugly history of corporate greed and devastation of human lives.
Marie-Monique Robin, Allison Schein, and Lara Vergnaud
OUR DAILY POISON
From Pesticides to Packaging, How Chemicals Have Poisoned the Food Chain and Are Making Us Sick
The New Press
Journalist and filmmaker Marie-Monique Robin documents the shocking array of chemicals we encounter in our daily lives, and their effects on our health over time. Using scientific studies, expert testimony, and interviews with farmworkers suffering from acute chronic poisoning, she demonstrates how corporate interests—and our own ignorance—may be costing us our lives.
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