Abundance by Ezra Klein, Derek Thompson

“Spectacular . . . 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 Times

“A terrific book . . . powerful and persuasive . . . People will recruit [Klein and Thompson] to run the Democratic Party.”—Fareed Zakaria, CNN

“Ambitious . . . Klein and Thompson want a ‘liberalism that builds,’ not just in housing and green energy but in artificial intelligence and in drug development, too, areas where they see similar patterns of stagnation. Their goals are broad. This group of policies, which they call the abundance agenda, offers, Klein and Thompson believe, ‘a path out of the morass we’re in. A new political order’ . . .Abundance is a fair-minded book, and it recognizes some of the trade-offs that come with redesigning government for dynamism.”—Benjamin Wallace-Wells, The New Yorker

“An absolute must-read.”—Stephanie Ruhle, MSNBC

“Klein 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. . . . [Their] vision for more effective government is something like an anti-DOGE: They imagine a future United States where careful and informed elected officials find ways to strip back the barriers to effective policy and allow the government to invest efficiently in underdeveloped pockets of society.”—Julian Zelizer, The New Republic

“A 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. . . . A can-do antidote to blue-state malaise . . . The timing of Abundance is extraordinary.”—Slate

“Helping liberals get out of their own way . . . It’s time to scrutinize everything from municipal zoning regulations to the paperwork requirements for scientists getting federal funding. The authors’ debut as a duo is very smart and eminently useful. Cogent, well-timed ideas for meeting today’s biggest challenges.”—Kirkus Reviews(starred review)

“A guide for liberals shaken by an age of factional polarization . . . [Klein and Thompson] are the best in the business at digesting and synthesizing expertise from a host of fields. . . .Abundance might inspire a demoralized Democratic Party to think big again.”—Samuel Moyn, New York Times Book Review

“A forceful, quick-moving broadside against the left-coded pathologies they see as standing in the way. . . . Klein and Thompson’s diagnosis gets much right. . . . A worthy read.”—Financial Times

“Ezra Klein and Derek 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 Times

Ezra Klein is an opinion columnist and host of the award-winning Ezra Klein Show podcast at The New York Times. He is the author of Why We’re Polarized, an instant New York Times bestseller, named one of Barack Obama’s top books of 2022. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

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Derek Thompson is a staff writer at The Atlantic and the host of the podcast Plain English. He is the author of the national bestseller Hit Makers and On Work, an anthology of his writing on labor and technology. He lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.