Abundance: A Novel by Ezra Klein & Derek Thompson
Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson’s ‘Abundance’ diagnoses America’s current crises as a self-imposed scarcity, arguing that outdated regulations and institutional failures have stifled progress and created shortages in housing, labor, and infrastructure. They propose a paradigm shift towards a ‘politics of plenty,’ urging both liberals and conservatives to recognize governmental shortcomings and necessities, and advocating for a renewed focus on building and progress in an era of growing scarcity movements.
Description
Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, acclaimed bestselling authors and journalistic titans, issue a powerful call to action in Abundance, a paradigm-shifting work that demands a renewal of a politics of plenty. They urge a confrontation with the failures of liberal governance and the abandonment of self-imposed scarcities that have warped American life.
The authors meticulously trace the twenty-first century’s history, revealing a pattern of unaffordability and shortage. America, they argue, faces a national housing crisis because it refused to build sufficient housing for years. The nation suffers from a worker shortage because it restricted immigration. Despite decades of warnings about climate change, it failed to construct adequate clean-energy infrastructure. Ambitious public projects consistently exceed budgets and fall behind schedule, often never reaching completion. Klein and Thompson assert that this burgeoning crisis resulted from decades of insufficient building.
Abundance dismantles the notion that past villains solely bear responsibility for present problems. Instead, they demonstrate how one generation’s solutions morphed into the next generation’s challenges. They expose how regulations designed to address the 1970s’ issues now impede urban density and green-energy projects crucial to solving the 2020s’ problems. Laws intended to ensure governmental accountability ironically hinder the government’s ability to act effectively. The authors highlight a disturbing trend: over the past few decades, society has sharpened its ability to identify problems while simultaneously weakening its capacity to solve them.
Klein and Thompson advocate for progress through honest introspection, demanding that institutions be held accountable for their shortcomings. They challenge liberals to acknowledge governmental failures and conservatives to recognize governmental necessities. They propose a shift towards a liberalism that constructs rather than merely protects and preserves. They dissect the political, economic, and cultural barriers to progress and outline a path toward a politics of abundance. As movements of scarcity gain traction globally, Abundance provides a timely response, directly confronting the challenges of the present while acknowledging the legitimate anger felt by many. They challenge readers to build a better future.
Listening Length: 7 hours and 14 minutes
Author: Ezra Klein, Derek Thompson
Narrator: Ezra Klein, Derek Thompson
Whispersync for Voice: Ready
Audible.com Release Date: March 18, 2025
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Program Type: Audiobook
Version: Unabridged
Language: English
ASIN: B0C7Y68VWT
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