Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism (book review)

In a world of political polarisation, advancing just transitions scholarship requires painstaking research that pays empirical attention to the complex sociotechnical changes underway, and carefully embeds them in conceptual understandings that carry long lineages and legacies. Thea Riofrancos’ latest book takes up this challenging task for a general public that is highly interested in questions of extractive frontiers, with a focus on lithium as a particularly crucial critical transition mineral. It succeeds in the tough balancing act of accomplishing an even-handed approach to a topic associated with considerable controversy, and locates the scholarly contribution well within critiques of green capitalism, albeit with some scope for broader grounding in the rapidly proliferating energy social sciences.