Agency
The Psychological History of Human Progress
$54.60
- Hardcover
400 pages
- Release Date
22 December 2026
Summary
‘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…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781399843027 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 1399843028 |
| Author: | Martin Seligman |
| Publisher: | John Murray Press |
| Imprint: | John Murray One |
| Format: | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages: | 400 |
| Release Date: | 22 December 2026 |
| Weight: | 608g |
| Dimensions: | 38mm x 160mm x 236mm |
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Critics Review
This book feels both like the capstone of a brilliant career and the beginning of a new paradigm. Agency is a thrilling achievement from the person who has most changed how we think about human flourishing. – REBECCA NEWBERGER GOLDSTEIN, author of The Mattering Instinct: How Our Deepest Longing Drives Us and Divides Us.
In this extraordinary book, Martin Seligman shows that one phenomena, agency, has propelled all human progress and flourishing. This will enable you to understand the past in new ways-but even more importantly, to build the future you want. – ARTHUR C. BROOKS, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Meaning of Your Life
An intriguing and robustly argued worldview that puts the creative human mind at the center of history. – Publisher’s Weekly
The message of this book is both highly liberating and optimistic. It also gives credit for progress to millions of ordinary people blessed with the right mindset, rather than to a few special people blessed with the right ideas. It also describes our present dilemma: we would have much to be optimistic about, if only we could learn to become more optimistic. – RORY SUTHERLAND, author of Alchemy
Martin Seligman is among the most influential psychologists in history, with seminal contributions spread over multiple decades straddling two centuries. But this may be his most important book yet. From a perspective
that he above all commands-the positive parts of human nature- Seligman explains how we have improved the human condition in the past, and therefore what we will need to do to improve it in the future.
Martin Seligman brings his unrelenting curiosity and psychological insight to bear on a topic that we desperately need to better understand: progress. Exploring the prospects and possibilities of human agency from the past to the present, his sweeping book distills the wisdom of many lifetimes and reminds us, on nearly every page, that optimism is a virtue. – DARRIN M. McMAHON, author of Equality: The History of an Elusive Idea
Martin Seligman
Martin Seligman, PhD
- Professor at the University of Pennsylvania
- Director of the Positive Psychology Center
- Former President of the American Psychological Association
Education:
- BA in Philosophy from Princeton University
- PhD in Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania
- Holds ten honorary doctorates
Recognition:
- Named the most influential psychologist in the world by Academic Influence.
Publications:
- Author and coauthor of over thirty books, including:
- Flourish
- Authentic Happiness
- Tomorrowmind
- Writes for numerous scholarly publications.
- Has been featured in The New York Times, Time, and Newsweek, among others.
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