He engagingly examines basic income schemes in 18th- and 19th- century England, in Manitoba in the early 1970s, and among the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians in North Carolina.

Being unrealistic and unreasonable can in fact make the impossible inevitable, and it is the only way to build the ideal world.Ī universal basic income, a shrunken work week, and global open borders get endorsements from Bregman, a Dutch journalist and historian. Bregman's book, both challenging and bracing, demonstrates that new utopian ideas, like the elimination of poverty and the creation of the fifteen-hour workweek, can become a reality in our lifetime. From a Canadian city that once completely eradicated poverty, to Richard Nixon's near implementation of a basic income for millions of Americans, Bregman takes us on a journey through history, and beyond the traditional left-right divides, as he champions ideas whose time have come.Įvery progressive milestone of civilization - from the end of slavery to the beginning of democracy - was once considered a utopian fantasy. Utopia for Realists is one of those rare books that takes you by surprise and challenges what you think can happen. It's just one of the many utopian ideas that Bregman proves is possible today. A quarter of a million views later, the subject of that video is being seriously considered by leading economists and government leaders the world over. Rutger Bregman's TED Talk about universal basic income seemed impossibly radical when he delivered it in 2014. Rutger Bregman, a Dutch historian, reminds us it needn't be this way - and in some places it isn't. 'A more politically radical Malcolm Gladwell.' - New York TimesĪfter working all day at jobs we often dislike, we buy things we don't need. Does it sound too good to be true? One of Europe's leading young thinkers shows how we can build an ideal world today.

Utopia for realists book