Progress

Name: Progress
Price: 45 AUD
Availability: OutOfStock
ISBN: 9780008462475

A History of Humanity’s Worst Idea

Samuel Miller McDonald

$45

Hardback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We will update you on expected arrival time to us. If this delay is too long, please let us know within 2 business days and we can give you options regarding cancelling or adjusting your order. More details on cancelling your order can be found in our Terms of Trade.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

William Collins
28 January 2026

General & world history; Philosophy; History of ideas; Globalization; Global warming

'A spirited skewering of the idea that things can only get better' The Guardian

'A new understanding of our past' Danny Dorling, author of Inequality and the 1%

Progress is power. But our modern story of progress is a very dangerous fiction.

In the pursuit of progress, of growth and expansion, we have levelled cities, flattened mountains, charted the globe and ushered in a new geological epoch unique in our planet’s 4.5-billion-year history. The idea of progress has compelled societies toward exploration, invention, and grandiosity on one hand, and on the other, genocide, slavery, ecocide, and conquest: it is the root of our civilization’s success, as well as its looming demise.

Geographer Samuel Miller McDonald offers a radical new perspective on the myth upon which the modern world is built, illuminating its blood-strewn lineage and suggesting an urgent alternative. He traces the history of how human societies broke from their pasts, broke from their environments, and broke from longstanding egalitarian values that sustained them, supplanting these with one imperative to rule all others: progress.

If humanity is to have any chance of a future, then we must fundamentally change the way we think about one of our most basic political ideas. This landmark work shows us where to begin.

'Progress explodes the great myth of our time. Lucid and wise' David Farrier, author of Footprints

'If you think progress will take us to the promised land, this is a must-read' Alpa Shah, author of The Incarcerations

By: Samuel Miller McDonald
Imprint: William Collins
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 240mm, Width: 159mm, Spine: 44mm
Weight: 660g
ISBN: 9780008462475
ISBN 10: 000846247X
Pages: 432
Publication Date: 28 January 2026
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Samuel Miller McDonald is a geographer focusing on human ecology, theory, and history. He holds a doctorate from Brasenose College, University of Oxford and degrees from Yale University and College of the Atlantic. He has written essays and analysis for The Nation, The Guardian, The New Republic, Current Affairs, Boston Review, and elsewhere, and has contributed interviews to BBC Ideas, VICE News Tonight, and various radio and podcast programs. Progress is his first book.

Reviews for Progress: A History of Humanity’s Worst Idea

'This is a wise book, and hopefully its wisdom will rub off. We need somehow to take the human traits that fixated on 'more' and turn them towards 'better,' with a rich definition of that blessed state!' Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature ‘From debunking creation myths to arguing for a deeper happiness, Progress upturns shibboleths and warns of a potentially dire future. Without new understandings of our past, such as that given here, chaos may be inevitable’ Danny Dorling