As part of Manchester University Press’ commitment to UNESCO’s 17 goals for sustainable development, we have put together the following reading list containing our books which fit into the aim of the goals, but also that we believe will help our readers find out more about pressing societal issues such as climate change, gender equality and reduced inequalities.
At the heart of UNESCO’s sustainability goals is the importance of education and how with something so fundamental we can take on the aims of eradicating poverty and building peace for all, together.
Don’t forget that if you subscribe to our newsletter, you can use your exclusive discount code for 30% OFF all of these titles.
836 million people, worldwide, still live in extreme poverty. These books explore the root causes within the history of poverty, and challenge or support current methods of eradicating it.
Western capitalism in transition
Poverty, philanthropy and the state
The NGO CARE and food aid from America, 1945-80
Pauper policies
Sickness, medical welfare and the English poor, 1750-1834
Poverty and Welfare in England, 1700-1850
Expecting to hit 2 billion by 2050, 795 million of the current global population are undernourished, the vast majority in developing countries such as Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. These books explore both historical events such as the Irish Potato Famine and contemporary systems of food-aid.
The NGO CARE and food aid from America, 1945-80
The politics of hunger
Wanting and having
Cooking up a revolution
Reforming food in post-Famine Ireland
Following the initial global effort against COVID-19, UNESCO’s third sustainable development goal prioritises good health and well-being, meaning a combination of happiness, prosperity and protection from sickness. These books emphasise the importance of worldwide mental and physical health.
Violence against women's health in international law
Global health and the new world order
The politics of health promotion
Progress and pathology
Mental health nursing
Saving sick Britain
Surrounding the problem of education inequality are fundamental aims to improve the provision of school infrastructure, gender parity, the quality of teaching and sufficient resources. These books address UNESCO’s fourth sustainability goal in relation to globalisation, race, class and inequality and proposes solutions to improve the quality of worldwide education.
Higher education in a globalising world
A progressive education?
Factories for learning
Anti-racist scholar-activism
Knowledge production in higher education
The 'desegregation' of English schools
Around the world, women and girls are disproportionately represented in the majority of political, social and public spheres. These books tackle traditions and beliefs that continue to damage and diminish the importance of the physical, mental and sexual health of women and girls.
Distant sisters
Women's medicine
Women, workplace protest and political identity in England, 1968-85
Gender, rhetoric and regulation
British queer history
Regulating homosexuality in Soviet Russia, 1956-91
'Curing queers'
Gender, migration and the global race for talent
Mainstreaming gender, democratizing the state
Women of letters
Women and museums, 1850-1914
Impacting 40% of the world’s population, lack of access to clean and safe drinking water is an ongoing and life-threatening issue hindered by pollution and climate change. Raising awareness for this global problem, these books emphasises the importance of sustainable access to water and sanitation.
Living with water
The implementation of environmental policy in Ireland
Environmental policy-making in Britain, Germany and the European Union
With 1 in 5 people around the world still lacking access to modern electricity and 3 billion relying on wood, coal, charcoal or animal waste for heating, energy education hopes to teach us about newer methods of preventing waste developing cleaner energy resources. These books discuss how different countries are tackling this issue and how self-sufficiency is becoming an increasingly more accessible way of becoming a greener world.
Dreams of disconnection
The spatial contract
Sweden and ecological governance
Gas, oil and the Irish state
Decent work is defined as jobs allowing its employees to work in safe and clean conditions while being paid fairly and provided with social and economic protection. These books explore how our economies work and their consequences for future generations.
Power, politics and influence at work
Rigged
Foundational Economy
Reclaiming economics for future generations
Home economics
These books draw attention to the disparity between developing and high-income countries when it comes to industry, innovation and infrastructure, and the range of problems and approaches that are facing both the agricultural and industrial economies today.
Innovation by demand
The spatial contract
Derailed
Foundational Economy
Exploring concepts of health, economic and social securities, these books map out the intersectional nature of civil inequalities around the world and challenge the hierarchical nature that we live by.
Rethinking equality
Imperial Inequalities
How the other half lives
Inequality and Democratic Egalitarianism
Towards a just Europe
It is predicted that by 2030, almost 60% of the world’s population will be inhabiting urban spaces. Given this rapid expansion, these books explore the challenges that will inevitably come along with this, such as waste management, air quality and further threats to climate change.
Urban transformations and public health in the emergent city
Sweden and ecological governance
The Value of a Whale
Dreams of disconnection
Cities and crisis
Urban gardening and the struggle for social and spatial justice
Starting at a basic level of learning how to reduce, reuse, recycle and recover, sustainability education is crucial for the world’s population to become more responsible and ethical consumers. These books on topics from liberal consumerism to the ecological crisis will help you explore ways of challenging this ongoing crisis.
Wanting and having
The capitalist mode of destruction
Gas, oil and the Irish state
Ecocide
Since the industrial revolution, our global temperature has risen at an extremely worrying and unprecedented rate. Exploring the climate crisis, these books consider differences in national strategies and propose cleaner, more effective methods of combating this global threat.
Carbon colonialism
Ecocide
Global warming policy in Japan and Britain
Ice humanities
Gas, oil and the Irish state
Climate change and the oil industry
Into the woods
The environmental turn in postwar Sweden
The process of sustainable exploitation has been proposed as a way of meeting current needs of the human population without threatening our waters for future generations. These books explore the relationship between labour at sea and capitalism on land to propose ways of achieving this UNESCO sustainability goal.
The law of the sea
Environment, labour and capitalism at sea
International seafarers and transnationalism in the twenty-first century
Trade winds
Coming at an annual cost of $1.26 trillion, corruption, theft and tax evasion are seen as the biggest threats to global peace and justice. These titles explore international relations and diplomacy.
Proscribing peace
Unofficial peace diplomacy
Urban gardening and the struggle for social and spatial justice
Global justice networks
United Nations peace operations and International Relations theory
The United Nations, intra-state peacekeeping and normative change
The United Nations Democracy Agenda