From the world's most influential psychologist - a landmark work that shows how human agency is the key to building a better future.

'The message of this book is both highly liberating and optimistic', Rory Sutherland

Drawing on six decades of pioneering research and a sweeping reexamination of the last 2500 years-from Periclean Athens and the Hebrew Torah to the Renaissance, the Enlightenment and the Civil Rights Movement-Martin Seligman shows how rises and falls in agency have steered the course of history.

Agency is the big idea for our times: when individuals have confidence, optimism and imagination, civilizations leap forward. In their absence, societies stagnate-no matter how rich their resources or how brilliant their citizens.

This remarkable book shows how individuals can act with agency and, with a clear-eyed view of an AI-transformed future, argues that we are entering the next great era of human flourishing.

Details

ISBN13: 9781399843058
Format: Paperback / softback
Number of Pages: 400
Edition:
Publication Date: 08 Sep 2026
Publisher: John Murray Press
Publication City, Country: United Kingdom
Dimensions (cm): 23.2(H)x15.4(L)x3.2(W)484
Weight (gm): 484

Author Biography

Martin Seligman, PhD, is a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, director of the Positive Psychology Center, and former president of the American Psychological Association. He received his BA in philosophy from Princeton University, and his PhD in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania and holds ten honorary doctorates. He was named the most influential psychologist in the world by Academic Influence. Along with writing for numerous scholarly publications and appearing in The New York Times, Time, Newsweek, and many others, he is also the author and coauthor of over thirty books, including Flourish, Authentic Happiness, and Tomorrowmind.

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