Your heatwave reading list

Plus: Andrew Adonis on the art of the midterm transition

Jun 24, 2026

London’s burning, London’s burning! There’s rare red heat warnings in parts of England and Wales today as temperatures soar—a warning which has only ever been issued once before, in July 2022. After all those decades of Brits complaining about the drizzle and the long winters, the phrase “be careful what you wish for” feels particularly pertinent now.

But even though there is hesitancy from some in the media to call the hot weather what it is—climate change—we will. Yet acknowledging the facts is only the first step. How do we fight the climate crisis and attempt to stop extreme weather warnings becoming more and more normal? Well, on the Prospect Podcast today, Ellen and Imaan are joined by sociologist Jens Beckert, the author of How We Sold Our Future: The Failure to Fight Climate Change.

Beckert argues that the structures which underpin modern-day capitalism are themselves barriers to fighting climate change. From profit maximisation to short term limits for politicians, it’s possible that without a whole new system, our ability to tackle climate issues is stunted from the get-go.

Similarly, in our latest issue, Susie Mesure describes the rise in popularity of climate fiction (cli-fi), and its power to either scare us about a dystopian future which feels increasingly real, or transform our view of the world around us. Cli-fi presents the reader with a flurry of questions: what does this changing environment mean? How do we live? How did we get here? And the more of us who start to interrogate those questions, the closer we can get to addressing them.

So, I’ve already given you a couple of books to add to your heatwave reading list, but let’s throw in a few more. Our latest issue’s Books in Brief includes books about linguistics, economic history, and Margaret Drabble’s latest work. But to save the best until last—I reviewed Guardian journalist Hettie O’Brien’s debut book The Asset Class, which assesses how the murky beast of private equity shapes our lives in ways that many of us are unaware of. Happy reading!

Finally, as Keir Starmer counts down his days in office, he’s surely getting excited to put his feet up, lather on some suncream, and dig into a darn good book. But there’s a lot that needs to happen before then, and no outcome is preordained, writes Andrew Adonis in his latest column.

Stay safe in the heat and send me your heatwave book recommendations at kathryn.schoon@prospectmagazine.co.uk.