Locking people away for long periods of time seems like a tough but effective way to deal with crime but multiple studies have shown that states with draconian sentences have the same amount of crime as states with more lenient laws. Imprisoning just one person costs tens of thousands of dollars per year and there’s other costs. When parents are taken away from their children families are strained and communities are weakened. When the prison sentence is done, people traumatized by imprisonment are released into communities where they face discrimination in housing and employment. In her book Talking About Abolition Sonali Kolhatkar looks at alternatives to the current system of policing and imprisonment.

In the late 1970’s and early 80’s the New Deal era where the government regulated businesses and protected citizens from the excesses of capitalism was­ overturned by Neoliberalism the idea that the market, left to its own devices, would produce an optimal economic system. Neoliberalism was wildly successful at producing billionaires. Their incredible wealth, disproportionate far beyond historical norms, has now bought a United States President. In his book Midnight Kingdom Jared Yates Sexton traces the origins of apocalyptic religious traditions that have shaped the Trump phenonium and what life under autocracy has been like historically.

In his book Should We Go Extinct Todd May takes an objective look at what we add to the community of life on the planet and what we destroy. This isn’t a call to end humanity as much as it’s a call to be better humans and citizens of Earth.