Every day we're bombarded with methods, mantras, life hacks and coaching sessions that promise us mindfulness, prosperity and wellness. We read countless self-help books to unlock the seven habits, twelve rules or one big secret to living a long and happy life, while time and talent remain some of our most squandered resources. The average full-time worker will spend 80,000 hours at their job: are you making the most of them? Do you truly believe in what you do, day in day out?

Internationally bestselling author Rutger Bregman shows us that with moral ambition – the will to make the world a wildly better place – it is possible to be both idealistic and successful, and to change the world along the way. Looking to the great change-makers of history, he uncovers the qualities that made them so persuasive, influential and effective, and shows how we, too, can lend our talents to the biggest challenges of our time, from climate change to gross inequality to the next pandemic. With moral ambition, we can do more than be on the right side of history: we can make history itself.

This is not a self-help book. It won't make your life easier – but it should make it more meaningful. The question is: what will you do with it?