Halfway between an author essay and an expert study, Ouředník’s new book draws equally from literature, history, philosophy and anthropology. Once again, we encounter the writer’s key subject matter: a society seen through the prism of language, topoi, loci communes. From Homer to the Church Fathers, from the Middle Ages to Renaissance, from enlightenment to 19th century social utopias to present-day dystopias, Ouředník’s history of utopia is foremostly a history of thinking about society – and thus the Western culture as such.