The Story Of Utopias
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Good
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
What does it mean to imagine a perfect world — and what does that imagination reveal about the society that conjures it? Lewis Mumford's The Story of Utopias is a sweeping intellectual history that traces humanity's enduring dream of the ideal commonwealth, from Plato's Republic and Thomas More's foundational vision through the utopian schemes of the modern age. With the analytical precision of a cultural critic and the narrative fluency of a storyteller, Mumford chronicles how these imagined worlds — both the utopias of escape and the utopias of reconstruction — have shaped political thought, social planning, and the very architecture of civilisation. What elevates this work beyond a simple survey is Mumford's insistence that utopias are not mere fantasies but urgent mirrors held up to the real world, reflecting its failures and its latent possibilities. Written with characteristic intellectual ambition, the text argues that understanding our ideal worlds is essential to transforming our actual one. First published in 1922 and reissued with a new introduction by the author, this edition stands as both a foundational text in social philosophy and a testament to Mumford's extraordinary range as a thinker — leaving the reader to wonder: if we can conceive of a perfect world, what truly stops us from building it?
Author: Lewis Mumford
Format: Paperback
Genre: Philosophy
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Good
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
What does it mean to imagine a perfect world — and what does that imagination reveal about the society that conjures it? Lewis Mumford's The Story of Utopias is a sweeping intellectual history that traces humanity's enduring dream of the ideal commonwealth, from Plato's Republic and Thomas More's foundational vision through the utopian schemes of the modern age. With the analytical precision of a cultural critic and the narrative fluency of a storyteller, Mumford chronicles how these imagined worlds — both the utopias of escape and the utopias of reconstruction — have shaped political thought, social planning, and the very architecture of civilisation. What elevates this work beyond a simple survey is Mumford's insistence that utopias are not mere fantasies but urgent mirrors held up to the real world, reflecting its failures and its latent possibilities. Written with characteristic intellectual ambition, the text argues that understanding our ideal worlds is essential to transforming our actual one. First published in 1922 and reissued with a new introduction by the author, this edition stands as both a foundational text in social philosophy and a testament to Mumford's extraordinary range as a thinker — leaving the reader to wonder: if we can conceive of a perfect world, what truly stops us from building it?