100 books like Inflamed

By Rupa Marya, Raj Patel,

Here are 100 books that Inflamed fans have personally recommended if you like Inflamed. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Die Wise: A Manifesto for Sanity and Soul

Camille Sapara Barton Author Of Tending Grief: Embodied Rituals for Holding Our Sorrow and Growing Cultures of Care in Community

From my list on collective grief society and web of life.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been fascinated by altered states of consciousness and social change since childhood. Growing up in an esoteric home, I was immersed in a spiritual worldview, but this didn’t provide guidance on how to deal with grief or address social challenges. I sense that noticing and tending to the various forms of collective grief we are immersed in is a crucial place to begin. As a writer, artist, and somatic practitioner, I aim to create care networks to support liveable futures and world(s) where as many beings as possible can live with safety, dignity, and belonging. 

Camille's book list on collective grief society and web of life

Camille Sapara Barton Why did Camille love this book?

I love this book because it helped me to understand how death-phobic the Western world is and why grief, death, and mourning are currently taboo topics for many. I read the book shortly after the death of a family member, and it helped me to make sense of my feelings and give myself permission to be with them.

I found the book very hard to put down. With poetic wisdom, Stephen Jenkinson outlines how little space there is to consider what a good death is, especially in the context of Western medicine. One of the biggest messages I gained from this book is that we must embrace grief and death in order to embody our ethics and, ultimately, live and die well. 

By Stephen Jenkinson,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Die Wise as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Die Wise does not offer seven steps for coping with death. It does not suggest ways to make dying easier. It pours no honey to make the medicine go down. Instead, with lyrical prose, deep wisdom, and stories from his two decades of working with dying people and their families, Stephen Jenkinson places death at the center of the page and asks us to behold it in all its painful beauty. Die Wise teaches the skills of dying, skills that have to be learned in the course of living deeply and well. Die Wise is for those who will fail…


Book cover of The Wild Edge of Sorrow: Rituals of Renewal and the Sacred Work of Grief

Laura Boggess Author Of The Honey Field

From my list on transform grief and loss into something beautiful.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a licensed therapist with a master’s degree in clinical psychology, I’ve helped individuals traverse grief and loss for over thirty years. But when my father passed away last year, I found myself feeling untethered, adrift in a barrage of emotions. In grief, I became more affected by even the smallest glimpse of beauty. The poem that perfectly voiced my heart. The spotted fawn appearing on the edge of the lawn. The purple of the eggplant flowering. Grief slowed me down, opening my eyes to the wonder of this achingly beautiful world we live in. It has become part of my story to endeavor to help others do the same. 

Laura's book list on transform grief and loss into something beautiful

Laura Boggess Why did Laura love this book?

I carried this book with me everywhere in the months following my father’s death. It is filled with wisdom and tenderness. This book gave me new language to help explain some of what I was going through, as well as introduce me to some actions/rituals I could try to help heal my hurting heart as I missed my dad. It is a beautiful book.

By Francis Weller,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Wild Edge of Sorrow as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"It blew me away. I underlined things on nearly every page." —Anderson Cooper, All There Is

The Wild Edge of Sorrow offers hope and healing for a profoundly fractured world—and a pathway home to the brightness, pains, and gifts of being alive.

Introducing the 5 gates of grief, psychotherapist Francis Weller explores how we move through the waters of grief and loss in a culture so fundamentally detached from the needs of the soul.

• The first gate recognizes—and invites us to accept—the painful truth that everything we love, we will lose. With this acceptance comes beauty and responsibility—and an…


Book cover of Grievers: Black Dawn Series

Camille Sapara Barton Author Of Tending Grief: Embodied Rituals for Holding Our Sorrow and Growing Cultures of Care in Community

From my list on collective grief society and web of life.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been fascinated by altered states of consciousness and social change since childhood. Growing up in an esoteric home, I was immersed in a spiritual worldview, but this didn’t provide guidance on how to deal with grief or address social challenges. I sense that noticing and tending to the various forms of collective grief we are immersed in is a crucial place to begin. As a writer, artist, and somatic practitioner, I aim to create care networks to support liveable futures and world(s) where as many beings as possible can live with safety, dignity, and belonging. 

Camille's book list on collective grief society and web of life

Camille Sapara Barton Why did Camille love this book?

I adore this book as it feels deeply woven with the legacy of Octavia Butler: gripping, socially engaged science fiction that is full of brilliant information about how to survive societal collapse.

I appreciate how adrienne shines a light on grief as it relates to the various social conditions that create hardship for folks. This systemic lack of care makes it hard for many folks to have their needs met in life, let alone have a dignified death. I gobbled this book up and was very sad to have finished it.  

By adrienne maree brown,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Grievers as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

★ "It’s a strong precedent that will leave readers eager for more."
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Grievers is the story of a city so plagued by grief that it can no longer function.

Dune’s mother is patient zero of a mysterious illness that stops people in their tracks—in mid-sentence, mid-action, mid-life—casting them into a nonresponsive state from which no one recovers. Dune must navigate poverty and the loss of her mother as Detroit’s hospitals, morgues, and graveyards begin to overflow. As the quarantined city slowly empties of life, she investigates what caused the plague, and what might end it, following…


Book cover of Rebellious Mourning: The Collective Work of Grief

Camille Sapara Barton Author Of Tending Grief: Embodied Rituals for Holding Our Sorrow and Growing Cultures of Care in Community

From my list on collective grief society and web of life.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been fascinated by altered states of consciousness and social change since childhood. Growing up in an esoteric home, I was immersed in a spiritual worldview, but this didn’t provide guidance on how to deal with grief or address social challenges. I sense that noticing and tending to the various forms of collective grief we are immersed in is a crucial place to begin. As a writer, artist, and somatic practitioner, I aim to create care networks to support liveable futures and world(s) where as many beings as possible can live with safety, dignity, and belonging. 

Camille's book list on collective grief society and web of life

Camille Sapara Barton Why did Camille love this book?

As a social change nerd, this book hit the spot for me. It was a powerful read, giving me a glimpse into the lives of so many inspiring activists and organizers who have been incorporating grief work into their lives and movement spaces.

I felt a lot of inspiration reading this, and it helped me feel less alone. 

By Cindy Milstein (editor),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Rebellious Mourning as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"This intimate, moving, and timely collection of essays points the way to a world in which the burden of grief is shared, and pain is reconfigured into a powerful force for social change and collective healing." —Astra Taylor, author The People's Platform

"A primary message here is that from tears comes the resolve for the struggle ahead." —Ron Jacobs, author of Daydream Sunset

"Rebellious Mourning uncovers the destruction of life that capitalist development leaves in its trail. But it is also witness to the power of grief as a catalyst to collective resistance." —Silvia Federici, author of Caliban and the…


Book cover of A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things: A Guide to Capitalism, Nature, and the Future of the Planet

Laurie Laybourn Author Of Planet on Fire: A Manifesto for the Age of Environmental Breakdown

From my list on to help us face up to the environmental crisis.

Why am I passionate about this?

I research, write and speak about the global environmental emergency and the policies and politics we need to adequately respond. Drawing on a decade of experience in academia, activism, and policymaking, my work explores the leadership needed to transition to more sustainable and equitable societies while contending with the growing destabilisation resulting from the worsening environmental crisis. I’ve worked at a range of leading policy research organisations and universities and have won awards for my work. I’ve got a BSc in physics and an MPhil in economies from the University of Oxford. 

Laurie's book list on to help us face up to the environmental crisis

Laurie Laybourn Why did Laurie love this book?

I was born at the end of the 1980s and the majority of greenhouse gas emissions have been released in my lifetime. That means the world’s emitted more since Seinfeld was first broadcast than in the previous 10 millennia of human history. But this isn’t just a story of the last few decades or of certain bad technologies that use fossil fuels. It’s a story going back centuries, to the emergence of global systems of profit-making that impelled people across the world to seek people and nature to exploit for money. This book has been invaluable in helping me understand that history and in seeing the environmental crisis foremost as a crisis of politics and of the great economic systems that dominate our world. 

By Rajeev Charles Patel, Jason W. Moore,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Nature, money, work, care, food, energy, and lives: these are the seven things that have made our world and will shape its future. In making these things cheap, modern commerce has transformed, governed, and devastated Earth. In A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things, Raj Patel and Jason W. Moore present a new approach to analyzing today's planetary emergencies. Bringing the latest ecological research together with histories of colonialism, indigenous struggles, slave revolts, and other rebellions and uprisings, Patel and Moore demonstrate that throughout history, crises have always prompted fresh strategies to make the world cheap and safe…


Book cover of Learning to Belong in the World: An Ethnography of Asian American Girls

Hoda Mahmoudi Author Of Children and Globalization: Multidisciplinary Perspectives

From my list on childhood and globalization.

Why am I passionate about this?

I've been interested in children’s lives for as long as I can remember. I think my own childhood experiences provoked my curiosity about the world as observed and perceived by children. My own childhood was affected by globalization in the broadest sense. When I was a child, my family moved to the United States from Iran. I grew up in Utah where I encountered a different way of life than the one I left behind. The shift from one culture to another was thrilling and scary. The encounter with a new world and a different culture has taught me important lessons about children’s creativity, strength, and curiosity as well as their fears, insecurities, and vulnerabilities.  

Hoda's book list on childhood and globalization

Hoda Mahmoudi Why did Hoda love this book?

Growing up, I moved from one culture to another, and I know being a teenager can be difficult. The lives of teenage girls are complex, even more so for the children of Asian immigrants, who not only face the pressures of school and society but also serve as cultural mediators, negotiators, community builders, and bridges between the many worlds they grow up in. His book looks at the lives of Asian American girls and their roles in globalization and boundary crossing as they struggle, dream, grow, and thrive. As an immigrant myself, I connected to many of the ideas in this book.

By Tomoko Tokunaga,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Learning to Belong in the World as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This book provides a complex and intricate portrayal of Asian American high school girls - which has been an under-researched population - as cultural meditators, diasporic agents, and community builders who negotiate displacement and attachment in challenging worlds of the in-between. Based on two years of ethnographic fieldwork, Tomoko Tokunaga presents a portrait of the girls' hardships, dilemmas, and dreams while growing up in an interconnected world. This book contributes a new understanding of the roles of immigrant children and youth as agents of globalization and sophisticated border-crossers who have the power and agency to construct belonging and identity across…


Book cover of Exploring the Dutch Empire: Agents, Networks and Institutions, 1600-2000

Laura Jarnagin (Laura Jarnagin Pang) Author Of A Confluence of Transatlantic Networks: Elites, Capitalism, and Confederate Migration to Brazil

From my list on histories of merchant networks: messy, diverse, transnational, and transcultural.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a retired professor of History and International Political Economy. Unraveling knotted masses of string was a relaxing, enjoyable activity for me while growing up. As a historian, I continue to pick apart entangled matters,  particularly about capitalism as a complex system. Networks give structure to complex systems, and I find networked merchants in the modern era (ca. 1500- 1945) especially fascinating to study. Who were they? How did they create opportunities and work across borders and cultures? How did they work around adversities? How did they both perpetuate and diversify their networks? How did they link to and collaborate with one another? How do networks evolve?

Laura's book list on histories of merchant networks: messy, diverse, transnational, and transcultural

Laura Jarnagin (Laura Jarnagin Pang) Why did Laura love this book?

I appreciate this book because its twelve chapters—each by a different author—is a tour de force of the many different parts of the world that have constituted the Dutch empire these past four centuries, all conveniently curated into one volume. (By the way, never overlook the Dutch: small country, huge commercial impact.)

Most importantly, each chapter, in its own way, provides insights into questions I have about networks, such as how they transcend political borders, how linkages are formed, and how cultural boundaries are bridged.

By Catia Antunes (editor), Jos Gommans (editor),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Exploring the Dutch Empire as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In 1602, the States General of the United Provinces of the Netherlands chartered the first commercial company, the Dutch East India Company, and, in so doing, initiated a new wave of globalization. Even though Dutch engagement in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans dates back to the 16th century, it was the dawn of the 17th century that brought the Dutch into the fold of the general movement of European expansion overseas and concomitant globalization. This volume surveys the Dutch participation in, and contribution to, the process of globalization. At the same time, it reassesses the various ways Dutchmen fashioned themselves…


Book cover of The Dawn Watch: Joseph Conrad in a Global World

Robert G. Parkinson Author Of Heart of American Darkness: Bewilderment and Horror on the Early Frontier

From my list on the intersection of fiction and history.

Why am I passionate about this?

Fiction has a way of capturing people, places, and phenomena that often elude source-bound historians. As I say in my book, you feel the weight of all the terrible things Colonel Kurtz has done in central Africa far more by his whispering “the horror, the horror” than I, as a historian, could possibly convey by listing them out and analyzing them. That feel–especially what contingency feels like–is something historians should seek out and try to pull into their craft of writing. Getting used to and using fiction to help historians see and feel the past is a worthwhile endeavor. 

Robert's book list on the intersection of fiction and history

Robert G. Parkinson Why did Robert love this book?

I am not the only one struck by Conrad’s depiction of imperial encounter at the dawn of the 20th century. This book contextualizes the real people and places that Conrad adapted for his fiction writing. Jasanoff, a historian, traveled the globe on a container ship for months to try to understand this fascination with maritime travel, far-flung places, and how imperialism and modern capitalism shaped our world.

It is an unusual book (a great thing!) and a meditation on the origins of the contemporary world.

By Maya Jasanoff,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Dawn Watch as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

CUNDILL PRIZE 2018 WINNER SHORTLISTED FOR THE JAMES TAIT BLACK BIOGRAPHY PRIZE 2018

'Enlightening, compassionate, superb' John le Carre

A visionary life and times of Joseph Conrad, and of our global world, from one of the best historians writing today.

Migration, terrorism, the tensions between global capitalism and nationalism, the promise and peril of a technological and communications revolution: these forces shaped the life and work of Joseph Conrad at the dawn of the twentieth century. In this brilliant new interpretation of one of the great voices in modern literature, Maya Jasanoff reveals Conrad as a prophet of globalization as…


Book cover of Global Governance: Why? What? Whither?

Michael Zürn Author Of A Theory of Global Governance: Authority, Legitimacy, and Contestation

From my list on understanding global governance in disruption.

Why am I passionate about this?

My interest in global issues developed when I was a student. What was my conviction already then became more obvious every year since then. In order to solve our most urgent problems, we need to have a strong and legitimate global governance system. Global governance, therefore, became the core of my research. I am Michael Zürn, the Director of the Research Unit Global Governance at the Berlin Social Science Center (WZB) and a Professor of International Relations at Free University of Berlin. I have also been the co-spokesperson for the Cluster of Excellence "Contestations of the Liberal Script" (SCRIPTS) since 2019. 

Michael's book list on understanding global governance in disruption

Michael Zürn Why did Michael love this book?

This book offers a comprehensive exploration of the challenges and opportunities facing global governance. Weiss skillfully analyzes the evolving landscape of international cooperation, addressing the “Why?” behind the need for effective governance, the “What?” of its current structures, and the “Whither?” of its future trajectories.

With his insightful perspectives on pressing global issues, Weiss delves into the complexities of power dynamics, institutional frameworks, and the role of state and non-state actors. He identifies five gaps in the present global governance system: knowledge, normative, policy, institutional, and compliance. These gaps must be filled to ensure global governance structures are secured in the face of inevitable challenges ahead.

Engaging and accessible, the book provides a vital roadmap for readers interested in the past and future of global governance.

By Thomas G. Weiss,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Global Governance as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Friends and foes of international cooperation puzzle about how to explain order, stability, and predictability in a world without a central authority. How is the world governed in the absence of a world government?

This probing yet accessible book examines "global governance" or the sum of the informal and formal values, norms, procedures, and institutions that help states, intergovernmental organizations, civil society, and transnational corporations identify, understand, and address trans-boundary problems. The chasm between the magnitude of a growing number of global threats - climate change, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, financial instabilities, pandemics, to name a few…


Book cover of Governing Globalization: Power, Authority and Global Governance

Michael Zürn Author Of A Theory of Global Governance: Authority, Legitimacy, and Contestation

From my list on understanding global governance in disruption.

Why am I passionate about this?

My interest in global issues developed when I was a student. What was my conviction already then became more obvious every year since then. In order to solve our most urgent problems, we need to have a strong and legitimate global governance system. Global governance, therefore, became the core of my research. I am Michael Zürn, the Director of the Research Unit Global Governance at the Berlin Social Science Center (WZB) and a Professor of International Relations at Free University of Berlin. I have also been the co-spokesperson for the Cluster of Excellence "Contestations of the Liberal Script" (SCRIPTS) since 2019. 

Michael's book list on understanding global governance in disruption

Michael Zürn Why did Michael love this book?

This anthology is highly recommended if you are looking for profound and multidimensional analyses of authoritative rule-making systems beyond the nation-state that emerged within the dynamics of globalization.

Readers will find general investigations on the structure and development of the institutional framework of “global governance” next to case studies focusing on how specific issues, e.g., the HIV/AIDS epidemic or transnational finance hazards, are governed within these frameworks. Furthermore, this volume is of great value as it depicts the controversial academic debates on how practices of “global governance” should be interpreted on a theoretical level. One can learn from both: “realist” and “Marxist” critiques on the concept of global governance and its proponents from “liberal institutionalist” and “functionalist” perspectives.

Alongside the explanatory level, the book is rounded off by some normative investigations on how global governance should look in the future in order to overcome patterns of global injustice.

By David Held (editor), Anthony McGrew (editor),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Governing Globalization as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Since the UN's creation in 1945 a vast nexus of global and regional institutions has evolved, surrounded by a proliferation of non-governmental agencies and advocacy networks seeking to influence the agenda and direction of international public policy. Although world government remains a fanciful idea, there does exist an evolving global governance complex - embracing states, international institutions, transnational networks and agencies (both public and private) - which functions, with variable effect, to promote, regulate or intervene in the common affairs of humanity.


This book provides an accessible introduction to the current debate about the changing form and political significance of…


Book cover of Die Wise: A Manifesto for Sanity and Soul
Book cover of The Wild Edge of Sorrow: Rituals of Renewal and the Sacred Work of Grief
Book cover of Grievers: Black Dawn Series

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