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Searching for the best of all possible worlds – in London

Niall Kishtainy examines the eccentric ideas of Gerrard Winstanley, Thomas Spence, John Adolphus Etzler, Thomas More and other utopians who lived in and around the capital

15 July 2023

9:00 AM

15 July 2023

9:00 AM

The Infinite City: Utopian Dreams on the Streets of London Niall Kishtainy

William Collins, pp.353, 25

Utopia can never exist, literally, since the word, which Sir Thomas More coined in his 1516 book of that name, comes from the Greek for ‘not’ and ‘place’. For the avoidance of doubt, More doubled down on the wordplay, naming the governor of his fictional island Ademos, meaning ‘no people’, and the river that runs through it Anyder, meaning ‘no water’.

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