A necessary book

New Statesman

A must-read for progressives who want a blueprint for reforming government so it can deliver for working people

- Barack Obama,

Spectacular ... Offers a comprehensive indictment of the current problems and a clear path forward

New York Times

The most discussed political book of the season

London Review of Books

At a time of global realignment and uncertainty, Klein and Thompson offer a bracingly bold basis for a progressive politics and policy that is both radical and realistic. One of the most important political books I have read in the past decade

- Matthew d’Ancona, The New European

Klein and Thompson's analysis focuses exclusively on the US, but their agenda is being put to practice in no major economy apart from Labour's Britain

- Mehreen Khan, The Times

Klein and Thompson's case studies are described with the clarity, accessibility and rigour that characterises their policy journalism

Guardian

Abundance reminds us that the UK isn't the only country that has forgotten how to build [and] there is reassurance here for British readers [on] how to build millions of homes and a new green infrastructure ... Klein and Thompson have sidestepped the current American political horror show to produce something original: a left-liberal manifesto for deregulation, or as they call it, "a liberalism that builds". Only that can create green-fuelled abundance

- Simon Kuper, New Statesman

Klein and Thompson want you to hold space to dream about utopia... We have everything we need to build the future that liberals want, clean energy and affordable housing included, today! Their book explains how

The New York Times

Abundance is one of those books that matter ... filled with chilling examples but also with inspirational stories ... it explains that the scarcities that afflict our economies are scarcities we have actively chosen. Making it easier to build will enable us to build a better future. But it is a future that needs to be not just argued for, but fought for

- Robert Colvile, Sunday Times

The Abundance movement - a cohort of pundits and intellectuals led by the likes of Ezra Klein, Matt Yglesias - traces the party's troubles to too much populism and not enough deregulation, especially when it comes to building up housing and transportation in blue cities and states

- Sohrab Ahmari, UnHerd

A galvanising attack on the over-regulation of the US economy, which could be applied to Britain too. This is an argument that has too often been made by the right; the authors point the way towards a progressive developmentalism

- The Best Summer Reads 2025, New Statesman

A guide for liberals shaken by an age of factional polarisation ... [Klein and Thompson] are the best in the business at digesting and synthesizing expertise from a host of fields ... Abundance might inspire a demoralised Democratic Party to think big again

- Samuel Moyn, New York Times Book Review

Downing Street's current hot read

- Andrew Marr, New Statesman

Lays out a path for American liberalism focused on building the material and infrastructural conditions of a better society

- William Davies, New Statesman

It's got people talking in environmental circles

Prospect

Klein and Thompson are two of the smartest voices from their generation of policy-oriented journalists, moving beyond horse race coverage of politics and integrating serious social science into political commentary ... [finding] ways to strip back the barriers to effective policy and allow the government to invest efficiently in underdeveloped pockets of society

New Republic

The country is plagued by an affordability crisis, a housing shortage, crumbling infrastructure, and a general sense of diminishing expectations... and in their buzzy new book, [Klein and Thompson] argue that scarcity is a choice, and that "to have the future we want, we need to build and invent more of what we need"

- Sohale Mortazavi, UnHerd

These authors are making an important point about the rigidities of regulation and the cost of procedural sludge

- Sarah Richmond, Times Literary Review

A potent political manifesto ... Its optimism is also compelling, even joyous ...The book's core lesson, convincingly delivered, is that liberals ought to make it easier to do the things they want to do ... a can-do antidote to blue-state malaise ... the timing of Abundance is extraordinary

Slate

Abundance has universal appeal... Klein and Thompson's proposed solutions [are] worth paying attention to...[their] vision is a positive and uplifting one

Irish Independent

Striking...the commonalities in the challenges we face - and some of their causes - can provide insight for those across the political spectrum

Irish Times

What we're trying to do is to help people earn a better life, to give people agency and freedoms that they don't have today. There's a really interesting new book by Ezra Klein [and] the argument he's making is that, actually, there are all kinds of options that are opening up ahead of us.

- Liam Byrne, (as told to) Fabian Society

[Klein and Thompson] crystalise ideas that have been swirling around newspaper columns, think-tanks, city-council initiatives and social media ... that excessive regulation has hurt America by blocking housebuilding, infrastructure and innovation

The Economist

The European Union can learn many lessons from this book ... it contains valuable lessons and cautionary tales that should be top of mind for leaders that are striving to keep the European project together amidst geopolitical shifts. The time for incrementalism has passed; Europe must act decisively to build abundance for all

- Elizabeth Kuiper and Pietro Valetto, Social Europe

A sensation among progressives in the US and around the world ... There's no doubt that Klein and Thompson's book offers a manifesto that Democrats could take to the next election

- Patrick Commins, Guardian Australia

Klein and Thompson have started the important work of reframing what seem like neo-liberal economic concerns into political reality. Sooner or later, there really will be no alternative. If Starmer wants to avoid empowering a new Thatcher as his eventual successor, he should take a lead from Klein and Thompson and act now

- Henry Oliver, New Statesman

People like Ezra Klein fire me up, because he's absolutely right in his book Abundance

- Cory Booker, (as told to) Rolling Stone

A terrific book ... powerful and persuasive

- Fareed Zakaria, CNN

An absolute must-read

- Stephanie Ruhle, MSNBC

Shortages and growing unaffordability - from housing to the labour market are two of the defining characteristics of the 21st century. Klein and Thompson argue that this is because well-intentioned rules and regulations adopted in decades past have hobbled the present, and they explore how we can move from a liberalism that not only protects and preserves but also builds

- What to Read in 2025 and What To Read This Summer, Financial Times

...a fascinating read if you're interested in how to make the public sector work better

- Janet Hughes DG, Civil Service World

Praise for Ezra Klein:
'It's been a long time since I learned so much from one book

- Rutger Bregman, author of Utopia for Realists,

Superbly researched and written'

- Francis Fukuyama, The Washington Post

This book helped me understand modern politics better

- Bill Gates,