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Abundance - Derek Thompson

Abundance - Derek Thompson The threat to liberal democracy isn't just autocrats - it's a lack of effective action by so-called progressives. We have the means to build an equitable world without hunger, fuelled by clean energy. Instead, we have a politics driven by scarcity, lives defined by unaffordability and public institutions that no longer deliver on big ideas. It's time for change.Bestselling authors Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson have spent decades analysing the political, economic and cultural forces that have led us here. In this once-in-a-generation intervention, they unpick the barriers to progress and show how we can, and must, shift the political agenda to one that not only protects and preserves, but also builds. From healthcare to housing, infrastructure to innovation, they lay out a path to a future defined not by fear, but by abundance. Review Forceful, quick-moving ... important ― Financial TimesKlein and Thompson want you to hold space to dream about utopia. No need to tighten the belt, they argue: We have everything we need to build the future that liberals want, clean energy and affordable housing included, today! Their book explains how ― New York TimesA necessary book ― New StatesmanThe authors make their case powerfully, and the book is a good read - ambitious, entertaining, and mercifully short. -- Emma Duncan ― The TimesAbundance is the blueprint for a more permanent rebuilding of hope and joy. It's a pro-growth, techno-optimist rallying cry for progressives to reinvent themselves as purveyors of plenty and good times ... with its optimistic ideas about energy and housing, it shows the left a possible way forward -- Gaby Hinsliff ― GuardianAt a time of global realignment and uncertainty, Klein and Thompson offer a bracingly bold basis for a progressive politics and policy that is both radical and realistic. One of the most important political books I have read in the past decade -- Matthew d’Ancona ― The New EuropeanAbundance is one of those books that matter ... filled with chilling examples but also with inspirational stories ... it explains that the scarcities that afflict our economies are scarcities we have actively chosen. Making it easier to build will enable us to build a better future. But it is a future that needs to be not just argued for, but fought for -- Robert Colvile ― Sunday TimesKlein and Thompson's case studies are described with the clarity, accessibility and rigour that characterises their policy journalism. ― GuardianAbundance reminds us that the UK isn't the only country that has forgotten how to build [and] there is reassurance here for British readers [on] how to build millions of homes and a new green infrastructure ... Klein and Thompson have sidestepped the current American political horror show to produce something original: a left-liberal manifesto for deregulation, or as they call it, "a liberalism that builds". Only that can create green-fuelled abundance -- Simon Kuper ― New StatesmanThe country is plagued by an affordability crisis, a housing shortage, crumbling infrastructure, and a general sense of diminishing expectations... and in their buzzy new book, [Klein and Thompson] argue that scarcity is a choice, and that "to have the future we want, we need to build and invent more of what we need" -- Sohale Mortazavi ― UnHerdKlein and Thompson's analysis focuses exclusively on the US, but their agenda is being put to practice in no major economy apart from Labour's Britain -- Mehreen Khan ― The TimesThe most discussed political book of the season ― London Review of BooksA galvanising attack on the over-regulation of the US economy, which could be applied to Britain too. This is an argument that has too often been made by the right; the authors point the way towards a progressive developmentalism -- The Best Summer Reads 2025 ― New StatesmanA guide for liberals shaken by an age of factional polarisation ... [Klein and Thompson] are the best in the business at digesting and synthesizing expertise from a host of fields ... Abundance might inspire a demoralised Democratic Party to think big again -- Samuel Moyn ― New York Times Book ReviewDowning Street's current hot read -- Andrew Marr ― New StatesmanSpectacular ... Offers a comprehensive indictment of the current problems and a clear path forward... Klein and Thompson usher in a mood shift. They inspire hope and enlarge the imagination by describing the good things that are actually within our grasp: abundant energy, cheaper housing, affordable cities, shorter workweeks, lab-grown meat so that we no longer have to use 25 percent of global land to raise livestock. -- David Brooks ― New York TimesThese authors are making an important point about the rigidities of regulation and the cost of procedural sludge -- Sarah Richmond ― Times Literary Review... lays out a path for American liberalism focused on building the material and infrastructural conditions of a better society -- William Davies ― New StatesmanIt's got people talking in environmental circles ― ProspectKlein and Thompson are two of the smartest voices from their generation of policy-oriented journalists, moving beyond horse race coverage of politics and integrating serious social science into political commentary ... [finding] ways to strip back the barriers to effective policy and allow the government to invest efficiently in underdeveloped pockets of society ― The New RepublicA potent political manifesto ... Its optimism is also compelling, even joyous ...The book's core lesson, convincingly delivered, is that liberals ought to make it easier to do the things they want to do ... acan-do antidote to blue-state malaise ... the timing of Abundance is extraordinary ― Slate About the Author Ezra Klein is the editor-at-large and cofounder of Vox, the award-winning explanatory news organization. Launched in 2014, Vox reaches more than 50 million people across its platforms each month. Klein is also the host of the podcast the Ezra Klein Show, cohost of the Weeds podcast, and an executive producer on Vox's Netflix show, Explained. Previously, Klein was a columnist and editor at The Washington Post, a policy analyst at MSNBC, and a contributor to Bloomberg.

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