A Times Literary Supplement's Book of the Year 2020 A New Statesman's Best Book of 2020 A
Bloomberg's Best Book of 2020A Guardian Best Book About Ideas of 2020 The world-renowned
philosopher and author of the bestselling Justice explores the central question of our time:
What has become of the common good? These are dangerous times for democracy. We live in an age
of winners and losers where the odds are stacked in favor of the already fortunate. Stalled
social mobility and entrenched inequality give the lie to the American credo that you can make
it if you try. The consequence is a brew of anger and frustration that has fueled populist
protest and extreme polarization and led to deep distrust of both government and our fellow
citizens--leaving us morally unprepared to face the profound challenges of our time.
World-renowned philosopher Michael J. Sandel argues that to overcome the crises that are
upending our world we must rethink the attitudes toward success and failure that have
accompanied globalization and rising inequality. Sandel shows the hubris a meritocracy
generates among the winners and the harsh judgement it imposes on those left behind and traces
the dire consequences across a wide swath of American life. He offers an alternative way of
thinking about success--more attentive to the role of luck in human affairs more conducive to
an ethic of humility and solidarity and more affirming of the dignity of work. The Tyranny of
Merit points us toward a hopeful vision of a new politics of the common good.
