Book reviews: 'Moral Ambition: Stop Wasting Your Talent and Start Making a Difference' and 'Is a River Alive?'

A rallying cry for 'moral ambition' and the interwoven relationship between humans and rivers

Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader assembled an army of young lawyers to rewrite U.S. environmental and consumer protection laws
(Image credit: Getty Images)

'Moral Ambition: Stop Wasting Your Talent and Start Making a Difference' by Rutger Bregman

Rutger Bregman's latest book "makes profound change look easy," said Isabel Berwick in Financial Times. The Dutch author of the best-seller Humankind: A Hopeful History has set his sights on today's educated elite, urging each of his readers to reject the allure of high-paying but damaging or pointless careers and choose instead to devote their careers to doing good for the world. While the suggestion may sound unrealistic, "there's a playbook here," as Bregman shares stories about the successes achieved when individual idealists have banded together in teams, such as the army of young lawyers Ralph Nader assembled in the 1960s and '70s to rewrite U.S. environmental and consumer protection law. The great challenges of our own time are many, and Bregman's "brisk and persuasive" argument stands a chance of waking many readers to the role they can play in meeting them.

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