Utopia

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Dreams come true in the conversation between Thomas More and Ralph Hythloday, the imaginary traveler of strange lands. The Utopia that emerges from his descriptions proves to be far more real and practical than the impossible fairy-tale world that has grown up around it since More's conversation was first published. Unlike England, with its terrible conventions of wealth and endemic crime, the island of Utopia lacks both private property and tyranny. Brilliantly written and suffused with subtle irony, More's Utopia proves that intelligent prose does not exclude humanity and a mischievous sense of humor. About The Author Thomas More was born in London On 7 February 1478. He was educated at St Anthony's School, Threadneedle Street, London, and Canterbury College, Oxford. In 1494 he went to study law at the Inns of Court and was later called to the bar where he first made his name as a brilliant speaker. He entered Parliament in 1504, and was introduced by Wolsey to Henry VIII. He soon rose to high favor, becoming Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and in 1513 Speaker of the House of Commons. In 1519 he succeeded Wolsey as Lord Chancellor, but resigned this post in 1532 after differences arose over the king's ecclesiastical policy. In 1534 he refused to take an oath that would impugn the authority of the pope and thereby sanction the king's divorce. He was imprisoned in the Tower, indicted for high treason, and beheaded on 6 July 1535. More wrote Utopia while he was an envoy in Flanders in 1516 and it was published the same year. His other works include Picus, Earl of Mirandula (1510), a History of Richard III (1513), Dialogue Concerning Heresies (1529), and Dialogue of Comfort, written while he was in the Tower in 1534. He married twice: in c. 1504 and 1511. He was beatified by Leo XIII in 1886 and was canonised by Pius XI in 1935.