Conversations with Tyler: Thomas More’s Tudor World, Utopia, and Tyranny

Thomas More was far more than a saint or a villain, and this summary distills the full Conversations with Tyler episode into a few minutes. Host Tyler Cowen talks with historian Joanne Paul about her book Thomas More: A Life, tracing More’s friendship with Erasmus, the satire behind In Praise of Folly and Utopia, and the political and religious stakes of Tudor England. Listeners will learn how education, Latin, law, and social rank shaped Tudor society; why Paul treats More’s anti-heresy stance in historical context; and how the Reformation, humanism, alchemy, and the early scientific revolution overlapped in one turbulent intellectual world. The conversation also explores Henry VIII’s execution of More, the optics of power, and Paul’s broader argument that history should help us see paths not taken. Listen now to get the key ideas in minutes.