“Abundance” came out a little over a year ago. It’s been exciting — and a little disorienting — seeing how it’s rippled out into the world, and the ways it’s been embraced and debated and critiqued. So I wanted to take a moment to talk through what’s really happened in the last year – with Derek Thompson, my “Abundance” co-author, and Marc Dunkelman, whose book “Why Nothing Works” came out around the same time, and circles the same ideas.
What has the abundance movement actually achieved in the last year? Where has it fallen short? And what have the three of us learned from our critics?
Mentioned:
<a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Abundance/Ezra-Klein/9781668023488" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Abundance</a> by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson
<a href="https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/marc-j-dunkelman/why-nothing-works/9781541700215/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Why Nothing Works</a> by Marc J. Dunkelman
<a href="https://substack.com/@derekthompson" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Derek Thompson’s Substack</a>
<a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/abs/power-elite-by-c-wright-mills-new-york-oxford-university-press-1956-pp-423-600/E3B9F446F210ECCFE2C96E7D2F2B9FA1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Power Elite</a> by C. Wright Mills
<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/24312/the-power-broker-pulitzer-prize-winner-by-robert-a-caro/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Power Broker</a> by Robert A. Caro
“<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/28/nyregion/new-york-subway-construction-costs.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Most Expensive Mile of Subway Track on Earth</a>” by Brian M. Rosenthal
“<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/21/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-alex-bores.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Why Are Palantir and OpenAI Scared of Alex Bores?</a>” by The Ezra Klein Show
“<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/02/american-loneliness-personality-politics/681091/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Anti-Social Century</a>” by Derek Thompson
<a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Bowling-Alone-Revised-and-Updated/Robert-D-Putnam/9781982130848" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Bowling Alone</a> by Robert D. Putnam
<a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-permanent-problem-9780197803967?cc=us&lang=en&" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Permanent Problem</a> by Brink Lindsey
“<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/03/opinion/bernie-sanders-oligarchs-americas-story.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Bernie Sanders: ‘There Ain’t Much of a Democratic Party</a>” by Bernie Sanders and David Leonhardt
Book Recommendations:
<a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/making-a-new-deal/2F42D09D61099BD9221F0210415263FB" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Making a New Deal</a> by Lizabeth Cohen
<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/700580/stuck-by-yoni-appelbaum/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Stuck</a> by Yoni Appelbaum
<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/323685/cadillac-desert-by-marc-reisner/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Cadillac Desert</a> by Marc Reisner
<a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/mere-christianity-c-s-lewis?variant=43671532470306" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Mere Christianity</a> by C. S. Lewis
<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/176619/the-secret-history-by-donna-tartt/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Secret History</a> by Donna Tartt
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy, Narrated by Richard Poe
Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.
You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/column/ezra-klein-podcast" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast</a>, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs</a>.
This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Annie Galvin. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris, with Annika Robbins and Kate Sinclair. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld, with additional mixing by Isaac Jones and Aman Sahota. Our recording engineer is Aman Sahota. Our executive producer is Claire Gordon. The show’s production team also includes Marie Cascione, Rollin Hu, Kristin Lin, Emma Kehlbeck, Jack McCordick, Marina King and Jan Kobal. Original music by Pat McCusker. Audience strategy by Shannon Busta and Lauren Reddy. The director of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser. And special thanks to Brianna Johnson.
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