Thomas More’s Utopia

In 1516, the publication of one small book would coin a new word and give rise to centuries of literature, theory, and thought. In his most influential work, the lawyer and Tudor politician Thomas More (1748-1535) described a seemingly perfect - but entirely fictional - island called Utopia. In 1535, less than two decades after writing the book, More was executed for refusing to accept King Henry VIII as supreme head of the church of England. Misha Glenny and his guests discuss why More’s exploration of service and the ideal state has been read as a blueprint for society, a scathing satire, and as a timeless warning. This In Our Time episode examines the 16th-century origin and legacy of one of most influential works of political philosophy. The discussion explores Utopia’s roots in Renaissance Humanism, what the book has to say about tyranny and governance, and why utopias can so often seem dystopian.

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Guests

• Laura Ashe 12 episodes
  Professor of English Literature at Worcester College, University of Oxford
• Cathy Shrank No other episodes
  Professor of Tudor and Renaissance Literature at the University of Sheffield
• Joanne Paul No other episodes
  Honorary Associate Professor in Intellectual History at the University of Sussex

Reading list

• Thomas More's 'Utopia' in Early Modern Europe: Paratexts and Contexts
  Terence Cave (ed.) (Manchester University Press, 2008) Google Books →
• More's Utopia: The Biography of an Idea
  J. H. Hexter (Princeton University Press, 1952) Google Books →
• Thomas More: A Biography
  Richard Marius (Harvard University Press, 1999) Google Books →
• Utopia
  Thomas More (ed. Joanne Paul) (Oxford University Press, 2025) Google Books →
• Utopia
  Thomas More (ed. George M. Logan) (Cambridge University Press, 2016) Google Books →
• The Essential Works of Thomas More
  Thomas More (ed. Gerard B. Wegemer and Stephen W. Smith) (Yale University Press, 2020) Google Books →
• Thomas More: A Life and Death in Tudor England
  Joanne Paul (Michael Joseph, 2025) Google Books →
• Thomas More: Classic Thinkers
  Joanne Paul (Polity, 2016) Google Books →
• Utopias: A Brief History from Ancient Writings to Virtual Communities
  Howard P. Segal (Wiley-Blackwell, 2012) Google Books →
• The Oxford Handbook of Thomas More's Utopia
  Cathy Shrank and Phil Withington (eds.) (Oxford University Press, 2023)
• The Foundations of Modern Political Thought, vol. 1: The Renaissance
  Quentin Skinner (Cambridge University Press, 1979) Google Books →

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Programme ID: m0031jz3

Episode page: bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0031jz3

Auto-category: 320.01 (Political science—philosophy and theory)