Welcome — and thanks for being here!

My whole career, I’ve believed history teaches us one crucial lesson: things can be different. The abolition of slavery, women’s suffrage, the eight-hour workday — every milestone of civilization was once dismissed as a utopian fantasy.

This Substack is about how we make it happen.

Some posts will be essays on history, on ideas, on the people I think we should be paying more attention to. Some will be updates on the work we’re doing at the School for Moral Ambition. Some will just be things I’m trying to figure out.

You’ll get a generous selection of these in your inbox, a few times a month, free. If you’d like every post — plus chapters from a book I’m writing on the abolitionists, drafts of essays before they’re polished, and notes from inside the School for Moral Ambition — you can upgrade below. Paid subscriptions are what keep most of this writing free for everyone else.

One quick housekeeping note: if you can’t find new posts, check your spam folder or Promotions tab and drag this email into your primary inbox. That way the next ones land where you’ll actually see them.

Rutger