Free and Equal. What Would a Fair Society Look Like?

*A Waterstones, Financial Times and New Statesman Book of the Year* ´A tremendous book, timely, wise, authoritative and clear´ Stephen Fry ´A brilliantly eloquent, incredibly insightful reimagining of liberalism´ Owen Jones ´Clear, brave, compelling´ David Miliband ´Inspiring ... impassioned ... full of hope´ Zadie Smith ´This is a fantastic book´ Thomas Piketty Imagine: you are designing a society, but you don´t know who you´ll be within it - rich or poor, man or woman, gay or straight. What would you want that society to look like? This is the revolutionary thought experiment proposed by the twentieth century´s greatest political philosopher, John Rawls. As economist and philosopher Daniel Chandler argues in this hugely ambitious and exhilarating intervention, it is by rediscovering Rawls that we can find a way out of the escalating crises that are devastating our world today. Taking Rawls´s humane and egalitarian liberalism as his starting point, Chandler builds a careful and ultimately irresistible case for a progressive agenda that would fundamentally reshape our societies for the better. He shows how we can protect free speech and transcend the culture wars; get money out of politics; and create an economy where everyone has the chance to fulfil their potential, where prosperity is widely shared, and which operates within the limits of our finite planet. This is a book brimming with hope and possibility - a galvanising alternative to the cynicism that pervades our politics. Free and Equal has the potential not only to transform contemporary debate, but to offer a touchstone for a modern, egalitarian liberalism for many years to come, cementing Rawls´s place in political discourse, and firmly establishing Chandler as a vital new voice for our time.