In one of the most important and timely works of political philosophy in recent years, Harvard professor Michael J. Sandel takes aim at one of the most cherished assumptions of modern society — that those who succeed deserve their success, and those who struggle have only themselves to blame. With characteristic clarity and moral rigour, Sandel argues that the relentless rise of meritocracy has not delivered a fairer world but instead corroded solidarity, stoked resentment, and hollowed out our sense of shared civic life. Tracing the roots of populist anger and growing inequality, he asks what we have lost when we replace the common good with the gospel of getting ahead — and whether a more humane and genuinely democratic politics is still possible. Urgent, thought-provoking, and impossible to dismiss.
