First published in Latin in 1516, Utopia was the work of Sir Thomas
More (1477-1535), the brilliant humanist, scholar, and churchman
executed by Henry VIII for his refusal to accept the king as the supreme
head of the Church of England.
In this work, which gave its name to the whole genre of books and
movements hypothesizing an ideal society, More envisioned a patriarchal
island kingdom that practiced religious tolerance, in which everybody
worked, no one has more than his fellows, all goods were
community-owned, and violence, bloodshed, and vice nonexistent. Based to
some extent on the writings of Plato and other earlier authors, Utopia
nevertheless contained much that was original with More.
In the nearly 500 years since the book's publication, there have been
many attempts at establishing "Utopias" both in theory and in practice.
All of them, however, seem to embody ideas already present in More's
classic treatise: optimistic faith in human nature, emphasis on the
environment and proper education, nostalgia for a lost innocence, and
other positive elements.
In this new, inexpensive edition, readers can study for themselves the
essentials of More's utopian vision and how, although the ideal society
he envisioned is still unrealized, at least some of his proposals have
come to pass in today's world.