New Books in Environmental Studies

Republicanism is arguably the most powerful political idea in
history, an extraordinary feat of human imagination that balances
individual liberty with collective responsibility. The Environmental Republic: Why Citizens Will Save the World (Princeton
University Press, 2026) reclaims this idea as the path to sustaining
our life together on a changing planet, reframing our relationship to
the environment not as a constraint on liberty but as its republican
foundation.
Giulio Boccaletti argues that we must renew our commitment to freedom
and civic responsibility through popular sovereignty. He presents the
environmental republic as a necessary alternative to blind faith in
technocratic management, the shallow moralizing and apocalyptic rhetoric
of some activists, and the disingenuous skepticism of vested interests.
Our environmental challenges are not simply about “agreeing on the
facts” or living within technical limitations—they reflect a deeper
failure of political institutions. Drawing on the history of ideas and
real-world examples, Boccaletti presents a political framework that
places our relationship to our surroundings at the heart of how we
exercise our voice, coordinate collective action, and define development
itself.
Offering hope in an anxious age of rising authoritarianism and widespread pessimism, The Environmental Republic
challenges the false choice between environmental protection and human
freedom, showing how place-based institutions can deliver both
sustainability and human development through true self-governance.

Giulio Boccaletti
is an author whose writings on natural resources security have been
translated into several languages. He has held international leadership
positions in the private and not-for-profit sectors. He is the
scientific director of the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change,
one of Europe’s largest research institutions focused on Earth science
and transition economics, and cofounder of Chloris Geospatial, a
space-tech company specializing in Earth observations. His books include
Water: A Biography, and his work has been featured in acclaimed PBS series such as H2O: The Molecule That Made Us, Human Footprint, and The Future of Nature.

Morteza Hajizadeh
is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New
Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory;
Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies;
18th
and 19th Century British Literature.
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Naturalism's Imaginary Museum, French Art, and the Eclectic Nineteenth Century (University of Toronto Press, 2024) examines one of the most revered art historical narratives of Western
art: the famous turning point for painting and sculpture usually
emblematized by the works of Édouard Manet and then the Impressionists.
Instead of the usual revaluation of this turning point, Sara Pappas
argues for the importance of the failure to find a cohesive story for
the art world in the period itself, a difficulty that carries forward to
galleries today. In order to demonstrate the importance of incongruity
and disorder, Pappas brings together two worlds that may seem
incompatible: nineteenth-century literary writers involved in naturalism
and the organization of permanent collections of later
nineteenth-century French art in today's museums. Drawing on the art
novels and art criticism of these writers, the book provides optimal
access to the questions that continue to haunt the categorization and
display of nineteenth-century art.

Guest Sara Pappas is Associate Professor of French and Visual Culture
at the University of Richmond. In addition to this volume, she has
published articles on topics from 19th century art criticism by literary figures such as Baudelaire and Zola to the Expositions universelles
to contemporary artist Kehinde Wiley’s influence on French art, as well
as co-curating an exhibit of Nineteenth Century French and Russian Art
at the Harnett Museum of Art.

Host Gina Stamm is Associate Professor of French at The University of
Alabama, with research concentrated on the environmental humanities and
speculative literatures of the 20th and 21st centuries, from Surrealism
to contemporary science fiction and feminist utopias, in Metropolitan
France and the francophone Caribbean, with a book manuscript under
review on posthumanist ecological engagement in the surrealist movement.
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Roger Bowdler and Brent Elliott’s The British Cemetery: Architecture, Landscape, Sculpture, published by Historic England (2026), traces the history of the cemetery from the 17th century to the present day. The cemetery emerged as a new landscape form in the 19th
century in Britain but had deep roots in earlier churchyard practices
and in fashionable garden landscape design. Cemeteries very quickly
became a locus for the monumental expression of loss, family identity
and social standing. The book offers a clear chronological narrative,
with alternate chapters attending to landscape and monuments. The
authors present unfamiliar primary data and introduce some welcome new
themes including reference to the monumental mason industry and cemetery
infrastructure. The authors draw examples from England, Wales, Scotland
and Northern Ireland and in doing so underline the very particular
nature of Scottish funerary heritage. The book’s principal strength is
its collection of illustrations that include historic and contemporary
photographs, landscape design maps and postcards. The text brings the
narrative completely up to date, with reference to the natural burial
movement and landscapes designed to meet Muslim burial need. This text
is now very probably the best introduction to the material culture of
the British cemetery, written by experts with over 70 years’ experience
in cemetery research and conservation. This interview, conducted by
Julie Rugg of the University of York’s Cemetery Research Group, is a
meeting of enthusiasts for a landscape form that is moving and
thought-provoking in equal measure.
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Outsmarting Cancer: Risk Reduction and the Power of Prevention (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2026) reframes one of the most pressing medical challenges of our time: how to prevent cancer.

In this timely and accessible book, physician and medical researcher Adam Barsouk, MD, presents a sweeping examination of cancer's true origins-biological, environmental, dietary, infectious, industrial, occupational, and behavioral-and makes a compelling case for why cancer prevention must become a central priority in public and personal health.

With personal stories from his clinical practice and the latest research, Dr. Barsouk explains why more people are getting diagnosed with cancer-and at younger ages-than ever before.

This book explores a wide range of overlooked and misunderstood risk factors, as well as how inequities in diagnosis, treatment, and prevention disproportionately impact underserved populations.

Unlike typical cancer books that focus narrowly on diet or
organ-specific disease, Outsmarting Cancer takes a comprehensive, systems-level view, urging readers to look beyond the symptoms and target the root causes.

Dr. Barsouk explores the role of genetic predisposition to cancer alongside environmental, lifestyle, and public policy influences that may contribute to developing the disease.

With rigorous scientific insight, he offers real-world, evidence-based strategies to reduce cancer risk in practical, meaningful ways.

Honest, urgent, and empowering, Outsmarting Cancer challenges readers to rethink how we talk about cancer and how we can reduce its burden before it begins.
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Just how much damage is sport doing to the planet? In Global Sports Go Green—Or Do They? (Palgrave Macmillan, 2026) Toby Miller, Profesor Distinguido at the Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico and Joan Pedro Carañana, Associate Professor of Journalism at Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain
examine the ecological impact of major sporting events. Using case
studies of The World Cup, The Olympics, The America’s Cup and Formula
One, the book demonstrates the vast range of economic, social, cultural
and climate impacts of these mega-events. Offering a wide ranging and
compelling critique, along with consideration of resistance to carbon
sports, the book is essential reading for everyone with interested in
whether global sporting spectacles can really be sustainable.
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