4 must-read books that cut through the chaos of your news feed

by Steve Nicholls

Readers interested in climate justice should check out this 2025 release from documentarian Steve Nicholls. Weaving together personal experience, nature writing, botany, geology and history, Steel River is the story of the River Tees, presented as a universal exemplar of environmental degradation.

by Megan Hunter

Author Megan Hunter explores the aftermath of climate change-induced catastrophe in her debut novel. As London is submerged below flood waters, an unnamed woman gives birth to her first child. Forced to flee home days later, they head north through a now dangerous landscape seeking supplies and safety. Adapted for the screen in 2023, this slender novel offers a meditative look at the strangeness and beauty of new life, as well as the endurance of life in the face of sudden devastating change.

by Samuel Kolawole

Author Samuel Kọ́láwọlé explores the global migration crisis and evils of capitalism in this award-winning debut. Able God works for low pay at a four-start hotel in Nigeria, where he tends to overprivileged guests and draws life lessons from games of chess. But Able’s life is upended when he kills a powerful patron in self-defense. On the run, Able is forced to sacrifice his virtues in favor of surviving the horrors he and his fellow refugees are subjected to.

by Ta-Nehisi Coates

In three intertwining essays, Coates explores the political nature of storytelling and the destructive myths that often shape our world. Coates takes readers along as he travels the globe, from Senegal to visit his ancestral homeland; to South Carolina to report on his own book’s banning; and finally to Palestine, where he is forced to reconsider his approach to reporting, writing, and bearing witness.