Moral Ambition: Stop Wasting Your Talent and Start Making a Difference

Historian Bregman (Humankind) presents a passionate ode to a life of activism. Arguing that most people waste their lives toiling away at “mind-numbing, pointless, or just plain harmful jobs,” he calls on readers to harness their skills to make “the world a wildly better place.” His advice for doing so includes forging smart alliances that further one’s cause (animal rights activist Leah Garcés teamed up with a chicken farmer to bring the harms of factory farming to light) and taking strategic steps to meet objectives (activist Rosa Parks consciously adopted the image of the “demure heroine” during the Montgomery bus boycott, giving the movement broader reach and appeal). Elsewhere, he sheds light on how to recognize social ills—like the animal abuses of today’s industrial farming practices—that are currently accepted but “will seem clearly wrong down the road.” Signs include struggling to defend them to one’s children and avoiding uncomfortable details about the issue. While it’s not always clear how the average person can overhaul their life to the degree Bregman suggests, idealists will be galvanized by his relentlessly energetic tone and inspiring profiles of well- and lesser-known activists, from Malcolm X to 18th-century English abolitionist Thomas Clarkson. The result is an inspiring jolt to the system. (May)