Abundance

By: Ezra Klein, Derek Thompson

Narrated by: Ezra Klein, Derek Thompson

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • ONE OF BARACK OBAMA’S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2025 • NEW YORK TIMES 100 NOTABLE BOOKS OF 2025 • KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST BOOKS OF 2025 • NPR BOOKS WE LOVE 2025

“A must-read for progressives who want a blueprint for reforming government so it can deliver for working people.” —Barack Obama • “A terrific book...Powerful and persuasive.” —Fareed Zakaria • “Spectacular…Offers a comprehensive indictment of the current problems and a clear path forward…Klein and Thompson usher in a mood shift. They inspire hope and enlarge the imagination.” —David Brooks, The New York Times

From bestselling authors and journalistic titans Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, Abundance is a once-in-a-generation, paradigm-shifting call to renew a politics of plenty, face up to the failures of liberal governance, and abandon the chosen scarcities that have deformed American life.

To trace the history of the twenty-first century so far is to trace a history of unaffordability and shortage. After years of refusing to build sufficient housing, America has a national housing crisis. After years of limiting immigration, we don’t have enough workers. Despite decades of being warned about the consequences of climate change, we haven’t built anything close to the clean-energy infrastructure we need. Ambitious public projects are finished late and over budget—if they are ever finished at all. The crisis that’s clicking into focus now has been building for decades—because we haven’t been building enough.

Abundance explains that our problems today are not the results of yesteryear’s villains. Rather, one generation’s solutions have become the next gener­ation’s problems. Rules and regulations designed to solve the problems of the 1970s often prevent urban-density and green-energy projects that would help solve the problems of the 2020s. Laws meant to ensure that government considers the consequences of its actions have made it too difficult for government to act consequentially. In the last few decades, our capacity to see problems has sharpened while our ability to solve them has diminished.

Progress requires facing up to the institutions in life that are not working as they need to. It means, for liberals, recognizing when the government is failing. It means, for conservatives, recognizing when the government is needed. In a book exploring how we can move from a liberalism that not only protects and pre­serves but also builds, Klein and Thompson trace the political, economic, and cultural barriers to progress and propose a path toward a politics of abundance. At a time when movements of scarcity are gaining power in country after country, this is an answer that meets the challenges of the moment while grappling honestly with the fury so many rightfully feel.

Hard AND healing truths for my wounded liberal soul. Onward to Abundance!

This. Is. So. Good.

Hard AND healing truths that gave me a new frame of reference to think about what is happening in the current moment.

I learned a tremendous amount about what was previously very puzzling and unclear to me. Namely, why “liberal” prosperous places that were putting major money toward the “right” projects aimed at improving inequalities in housing, healthcare, mass transportation and schooling were failing to make positive changes despite huge amounts of money being spent.

This book scratched an itch that was calling to me from the depths of my mind. Having been quite struck by an episode of the Hidden Brain podcast on the neuroscience of scarcity complex many years ago I’d been watching myself and others make poor decisions when we felt scarcities grip (it’s proven neuroscience - check out the episode if your curious). I could apply the learnings from this fascinating science for myself but couldn’t overlay it on what was happening in US (and world) politics very well until now. This book was the key to connecting those dots.

I now have clarity about what we need to do, and how we might frame the work, in order to best support the health and vitality of both the US and the world (and address climate change urgently).

Thank you Ezra and Darrick for your clear eyed vision!

Onward to Abundance!

Well researched with factual data

An absolute must listen. Well illustrated with historical facts in a story telling format.
Bravo.
The Trump/MAGA Cult politics is definitely not pro-abundance, it’s 180 degrees opposite.

Frustrating book

What a frustrating book. After, I felt like America is an out-of-shape patient after the doctor has just explained what a fabulous life they could be having (if only) I hadn't made so many bad life choices. The authors offer an astounding imaginary America. But maybe this book should've been listed in the Fantasy section, as the envisioned world couldn't be more far removed from reality. Toward the end, they acknowledge how far removed their horizons are, suggesting the path forward would be a "murky outline." Truly wish they could've done something about all the murk.

Provocative

Do I agree with every word? Of course not. Do Klein and Thompson address every concern? Nope.

But is it provocative correction for a movement that has been roundly rejected? Yes. The most inspiring book I have read in a long time. I left my listen hopeful.

Also, two professional podcasters makes the listen quite nice.

Should have hired a professional to read

Read in an awful pentameter and with the tone of a snide grocery list. Words jumbled together and with the same tone. Read and don't listen to this book.