Thomas More's Utopia

The 500th anniversary of the first publication of Thomas More's Utopia invites a reappraisal of its significance, not just as an ironic and playful fiction, but as a serious contribution to social and political thought. More delivers a searing critique of the injustices of his time and imagines a radical alternative based on common ownership and representative government. In this new interpretation, Wilde surveys the context from which Utopia emerged and analyses its key themes - politics, economics, social relations, crime and punishment, war and religion.

Lawrence Wilde is Emeritus Professor of Political Theory at Nottingham Trent University, UK.

Introduction 1. More and His Masterpiece 2. Reason, Faith and Discovery: The Context of Utopia 3. Politics 4. Economics 5. Social Relations 6. Law, War and Religion 7. The Achievement of Utopia 8. Epilogue