Utopia: Of a Republic's Best State and of the New Island Utopia
By Thomas More
3.5/5
()
About this ebook
Thomas More
Thomas More (1478-1535) was an English lawyer, judge, philosopher, statesman, and humanist. Born in London, he was the second of six children born to Sir John More and his wife Agnes. From 1490 to 1492, he served as household page for Archbishop of Canterbury John Morton, who introduced him to Renaissance humanism and nominated him for a spot at the University of Oxford. After two years of learning Latin and Greek, he left to study law and was called to the Bar in 1502. Two years later, he was elected to Parliament, launching his political career in earnest. In 1516, while serving as Privy Counsellor, More published Utopia, a work of political philosophy and social satire that describes the customs of a fictional island nation. After a series of prominent posts in the court of King Henry VIII, More succeeded Thomas Wolsey as Lord Chancellor in 1529, making him one of the most powerful men in England. His three-year reign was mired in controversy, as he worked to impede the influence of the Protestant Reformation through the persecution of heretics and the suppression of Lutheran books, especially the Tyndale Bible. In 1530, he refused to sign a letter to Pope Clement VII that sought to annul Henry’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon, damaging his relationship with the King and distancing himself from clergymen loyal to the crown. After resigning in 1532, he further enraged the King by refusing to attend the coronation of Anne Boleyn, leading to a series of charges orchestrated by Thomas Cromwell. His refusal to take the Oath of Supremacy, which recognized the King as the figurehead of a new Church of England, would culminate in his being found guilty of high treason in 1535. Five days after his trial by jury, More was beheaded at Tower Hill. Recognized as a martyr by the Catholic Church, he was canonized as a saint in 1935 by Pope Pius XI.
Read more from Thomas More
33 Human Science Masterpieces You Must Read Before You Die. Illustrated: The Art of Public Speaking, The Meditations, The Kama Sutra and other masterpieces Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Utopia Collection Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings30+ Classic Philosophy Book Collection: The Art of War, Poetics, The Republic, The Meditations, The Prince and others Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHarvard Classics: All 71 Volumes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUtopia In Plain and Simple English Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIdeal Commonwealths Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThree Early Modern Utopias Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUtopia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Utopia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Utopia (Translated by Gilbert Burnet with Introductions by Henry Morley and William D. Armes) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Utopia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Utopia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to Utopia
Related ebooks
Utopia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUtopia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUtopia: A little, true book, both beneficial and enjoyable, about how things should be in the new island Utopia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUtopia: An imaginary island-kingdom inhabited by an ideal society Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUtopia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Utopia: A socio-political satire by Thomas More (unabridged text) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Utopia | Thomas More Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsClassic Imaginary Voyage Stories (Golden Deer Classics): Gulliver's Travels, Gargantua, Pantagruel, The Blazing World, Utopia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Saint Thomas More Collection Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUtopia: A Perfect Fictional World Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUtopia by Thomas Moore: "You wouldn't abandon ship in a storm just because you couldn't control the winds." Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUtopia (Translated by Gilbert Burnet with Introductions by Henry Morley and William D. Armes) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Utopia (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Letters to Sir William Windham and Mr. Pope Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLord Lyons: A Record of British Diplomacy (Complete Edition) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUnder the Turk in Constantinople: A record of Sir John Finch's Embassy, 1674-1681 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Scarlet Pimpernel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Road from Versailles: Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, and the Fall of the French Monarchy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dialogues Of The Dead: “Women, like princes, find few real friends” Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Love Letters of Dorothy Osborne to Sir William Temple, 1652-54 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLord Lyons (Vol. 1&2): A Record of British Diplomacy (Complete Edition) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings1665 – Diary of a Plague Year Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland (1753) Volume IV Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Divorce of Henry VIII: The Untold Story from Inside the Vatican Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Essays on Mankind Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Life of Sir John Moore: Not a Drum Was Heard Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An English Garner: Critical Essays & Literary Fragments Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Satire For You
The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/51900: Or; The Last President Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Heart of a Dog Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Bone Palace Ballet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The White Boy Shuffle: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mash: A Novel About Three Army Doctors Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Candide: The Original Unabridged And Complete Edition (Voltaire Classics) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Utopia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lawyering By Dummies Student Expanded Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Kill for Love Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Candy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It Was Just Another Day in America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHouse of Cards Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5As I Lay Dying Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Heart Sutra Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Only Living Girl on Earth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Out of Oz: The Final Volume in the Wicked Years Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Baby, You're the Greatest: A Short Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bonfire of the Vanities: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Friday Black Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Futurological Congress Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Closing Time: The Sequel to Catch-22 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Mandibles: A Family, 2029-2047 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Trout Fishing in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Master & Margarita Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Five People You Meet in Hell: An Unauthorized Parody Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sisters Brothers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, the Vampire Accountant Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5No One Left to Come Looking for You: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Dice Man: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for Utopia
1,355 ratings10 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A highly influential classic with interesting letters but including pedantic essays heavily influenced by socialism.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Written about 1515 or 1516 and worth reading see pages 93 at bottom e.g. rich managing selfishly and 95 last para eg However, there are many things in the commonwealth of utopia that I rather wish, than hope, to see followed in our governments.He of course was beheaded and later made a Saint.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5i couldn't get past the stilted language to get into this book. by the time i got into the groove i really just didn't think he had much to say. i had hoped for a lot more from this, and was sorely disappointed.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Utopia describes a different Commonwealth lifestyle. Would this lead to happiness? It's tough to say. Read it and see what you think.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Utopia offers an interesting critical look at live in the 16th century on the one hand as well as proposing an idea for an ideal civilization. Whether Utopia was meant to be a satire or represented More's personal views remains unclear, however, the discourse on Utopia contains several jokes and offers light reading.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An easy, reasonable quick read. More has some interesting communist ideas, infused with his version of Christianity and agrarianism. Many of his critiques about then-contemporary English/European society are still quite applicable.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5One of the classic that has withstood the critics throughout the years. It was written in 1516. The work was written in Latin and it was published in Louvain (present-day Belgium). Utopia is a work of satire, indirectly criticizing Europe's political corruption and religious hypocrisy. Many believe it may had been a major influence of the Protestant Reformation which begun the following year in 1517. Many later works has been based upon it.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I loved the dialogue in book 1; Raphael is really quite woke. While the structure of Utopia itself was interesting, I would have rather liked a story rather than a textbook explanation. Nonetheless, it was enjoyable.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I actually found this book to be quite boring. Sure, it's a classic. Sure, it outlines a theoretically equal world. But honestly, I found it difficult to keep engaged in what I was reading. How boring would life be if it were like what this book describes!
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Reading this is a good exercise in humility, to realize how many subjects we discuss today have been discussed (in the same details) before. I find it interesting that people don't know just how serious More was about most of this. Is he sincere and exposing how he really feels even though he can't be more explicit or act on much of it? Or it is satirical? The subjects are presented with such respect that it isn't obvious either way.