The Work We Need
'The humane revolutionary our turbulent century needs’ Jonathan Freedland
Author: Hilary Cottam
Hilary Cottam, author of Radical Help about which the Guardian's Jonathan Freedland wrote, 'this might be the most important book you read this year', now turns to the subject of the future of work
25th August 2025
Hardcover
PRODUCT INFORMATION
Summary
Hilary Cottam, author of Radical Help about which the Guardian's Jonathan Freedland wrote, 'this might be the most important book you read this year', now turns to the subject of the future of work
Description
'Brimming with ideas to transform the future, Hilary Cottam takes us on a fascinating journey to discover how to make work work' KATE RAWORTH, author of DOUGHNUT ECONOMICS
'Cottam is the humane revolutionary our turbulent century needs - and this book our roadmap to a better future' JONATHAN FREEDLAND, author of THE ESCAPE ARTIST'An act of radical hope, radical listening and radical humility . . . I loved it' RORY STEWARTWork, for decades, has been debated and discussed as a narrow economic category. Instead, Hilary Cottam identifies work as a cultural force at the heart of good lives, strong communities and a sense of a shared national destiny. Crucially, in these dramatic times, she shows how we can shape this force to meet technological change, our ecological crisis and the challenges of the world's deep injustices. We can create a work revolution. Ambitious but rooted in the ideas of everyday experts - real workers from all walks of life - this is a realistic and hopeful book. Hilary Cottam has crossed the UK and the USA; she's spent time in communities considered by outsiders as 'left behind' and in places at the centre of financial and technological power. Drawing on a fascinating range of sources - historians, trade unionists, business leaders, philosophers and most originally, hours of her imaginative workshops with workers - Hilary Cottam boldly asks: how can we redesign work? Our challenges - political, social, economic and environmental - are tangled and growing. But so are the imaginative solutions. In this exciting, inspiring and optimistic book, Hilary shows us how we could work differently and live better. 'Twenty-first century people cannot give their best if tied down to twentieth-century patterns of work. Hilary Cottam provides the roadmap for the required transformation. Timely . . . guides the changes needed' CARLOTA PEREZ'Exposes what motivates workers today - not the things most business leaders think - and shows how new thinking would benefit us all. Compelling' MARTHA LANE FOX'Urgent, compelling and ultimately hopeful . . . Cottam demonstrates that a better future, based on reciprocity and mutual collaboration, is not only possible but its seeds are already here. Necessary and Inspiring' CAROLINE LUCAS, Green Party MP and author of ANOTHER ENGLANDCritic Reviews
Pushing us to rethink our most basic assumptions . . . Full of empathy, insight and courage . . . Cottam is the humane revolutionary our turbulent century needs - and this book our roadmap to a better future -- Jonathan Freedland, author of THE ESCAPE ARTIST
Brimming with ideas to transform the future, Hilary Cottam takes us on a fascinating journey to discover how to make work work -- Kate Raworth, author of DOUGHNUT ECONOMICS
An act of racial hope, radical listening and radical humility - Hilary Cottam challenges our most fundamental assumptions about our lives and society and most importantly, suggests how we can make things much better. I loved it -- Rory Stewart
Urgent, compelling and ultimately hopeful . . . Cottam demonstrates that a better future, based on reciprocity and mutual collaboration, is not only possible but its seeds are already here. Necessary and Inspiring -- Caroline Lucas
Exposes what motivates workers today - not the things most business leaders think - and shows how new thinking would benefit us all. Compelling -- Martha Lane Fox
Integrates life as imagined by workers themselves with a keen understanding of technological and economic change. An engrossing blueprint for change -- Anne-Marie Slaughter
One of the deepest thinkers on this subject -- Colin Mayor, author of CAPITALISM AND CRISES
Twenty-first century people cannot give their best if tied down to twentieth-century patterns of work. Hilary Cottam provides the roadmap for the required transformation. Timely . . . guides the changes needed -- Carlota Perez
About the Author
Hilary Cottam is an internationally acclaimed social activist whose work in Britain and with communities around the world has focused on collaborative and affordable solutions to some of the greatest social challenges of our time. Her first book Radical Help was hailed as 'mind-shifting' by David Brooks in the New York Times and has been translated internationally. Awarded an OBE in 2019 for services to the welfare state, Hilary has been recognised by Fast Company in the US for her pioneering creativity and by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader. Hilary's TED talk has had close to a million views.
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25th August 2025
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