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Progress: A History of Humanity’s Worst Idea
A landmark book that overturns everything we think we know about humankind’s greatest idea.
Progress is power. Narratives of progress, the stories we tell about whether a society is moving in the right or the wrong direction, are immensely potent. They have levelled cities, flattened mountains, charted the globe and ushered in a new geological epoch unique in our planets 4.5-billion-year history.
But the modern story of progress is an also very dangerous fiction. This tall tale has spread across the globe, shaping nearly everyone’s sense of what progress means, what it should mean, and where our society ought to go.
Because of this, we live in a paradoxical world, where we continue to subscribe to a set of myths; about dominion, growth and expansion, that are at the root of our civilisation's demise. Geographer Samuel Miller McDonald’s first book offers a radical new perspective on the five progress myths upon which the modern world is built, illuminating its blood-strewn lineage and suggesting an urgent alternative. If humanity is to have any chance of a future, he argues, then we must fundamentally change the way we think about one of our most basic political ideas.
Drawing on interdisciplinary research across anthropology, philosophy and geography; Samuel Miller McDonald presents an alternative history of progress which is inextricably linked to the collapse of our environment. If we are to survive, we will need to dismantle, re-examine and redefine our understanding of progress for a new age.
Drawing comparisons to Jared Diamond and David Graeber, Progress offers an alternative vision of our political future, grounded in ecological understanding of our past.
Progress is power. Narratives of progress, the stories we tell about whether a society is moving in the right or the wrong direction, are immensely potent. They have levelled cities, flattened mountains, charted the globe and ushered in a new geological epoch unique in our planets 4.5-billion-year history.
But the modern story of progress is an also very dangerous fiction. This tall tale has spread across the globe, shaping nearly everyone’s sense of what progress means, what it should mean, and where our society ought to go.
Because of this, we live in a paradoxical world, where we continue to subscribe to a set of myths; about dominion, growth and expansion, that are at the root of our civilisation's demise. Geographer Samuel Miller McDonald’s first book offers a radical new perspective on the five progress myths upon which the modern world is built, illuminating its blood-strewn lineage and suggesting an urgent alternative. If humanity is to have any chance of a future, he argues, then we must fundamentally change the way we think about one of our most basic political ideas.
Drawing on interdisciplinary research across anthropology, philosophy and geography; Samuel Miller McDonald presents an alternative history of progress which is inextricably linked to the collapse of our environment. If we are to survive, we will need to dismantle, re-examine and redefine our understanding of progress for a new age.
Drawing comparisons to Jared Diamond and David Graeber, Progress offers an alternative vision of our political future, grounded in ecological understanding of our past.
424 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
July 13, 2025
This book provides a critical look at "progress," something that most of us assume to be a good thing. A second look is taken at the ways progress is measured and the book explains how progress isn’t always as positive as perceived depending on the measured parameters. The book also shows how thus far in history progress has always depended on a parasitic, extractive, and expanding mode of operation. This kind of progress has culminated today with economist who assume exponential growth can continue forever on a finite earth. The book's conclusion is that we have no choice but to change future progress into a direction that is in equilibrium with the regenerative capacity of the earth.
The author provides a history of human civilization by beginning with the time "before progress" when human life was fully embedded within the natural environment. Then the book's narrative describes the era from 3000 BCE to 1400 CE as a time when human life and progress was tied up in the realm of the theological and mythical, and the parasitism was contiguous and regional. Agents then were city-states, kingdoms, and empires.
Next the time from 1400 to 1900 is explored with progress described as secular and rational, and the parasitism is described as disparate and maritime and often was in the form of colonialism. Agents of this era were kingdoms, nation-states, and empires.
Finally the book addresses the time period from 1900 to the present and describes progress as economic and ideological with parasitism networked and based on fossil fuel. Agents of this time are nation-states, corporations, and ideological coalitions. The discussion of ideologies includes Keynesianism, Communism, and Neoliberalism, and particular emphasis is placed on identifying Neoliberalism as an ideology that is just as theoretical and removed from reality as the other ideologies because on its expectation that unending compounded growth is possible on a finite earth.
The author tries to end the book with a note of optimism by offering an optimistic chapter titled "After Progress." Unfortunately, it is more of a hopeful vision than a recipe on how to change from parasitic economies to commensalistic ones. He acknowledges that we can't return to the conditions that existed prior to parasitic growth, and we'll need to find solutions to fit current conditions.
I will conclude this review with the following excerpt near the end of the book which can serve as a sort of summary conclusion:
The author provides a history of human civilization by beginning with the time "before progress" when human life was fully embedded within the natural environment. Then the book's narrative describes the era from 3000 BCE to 1400 CE as a time when human life and progress was tied up in the realm of the theological and mythical, and the parasitism was contiguous and regional. Agents then were city-states, kingdoms, and empires.
Next the time from 1400 to 1900 is explored with progress described as secular and rational, and the parasitism is described as disparate and maritime and often was in the form of colonialism. Agents of this era were kingdoms, nation-states, and empires.
Finally the book addresses the time period from 1900 to the present and describes progress as economic and ideological with parasitism networked and based on fossil fuel. Agents of this time are nation-states, corporations, and ideological coalitions. The discussion of ideologies includes Keynesianism, Communism, and Neoliberalism, and particular emphasis is placed on identifying Neoliberalism as an ideology that is just as theoretical and removed from reality as the other ideologies because on its expectation that unending compounded growth is possible on a finite earth.
The author tries to end the book with a note of optimism by offering an optimistic chapter titled "After Progress." Unfortunately, it is more of a hopeful vision than a recipe on how to change from parasitic economies to commensalistic ones. He acknowledges that we can't return to the conditions that existed prior to parasitic growth, and we'll need to find solutions to fit current conditions.
...we have to reconcile the necessities of the moment with those of the past and the conditions of the future. There is no one single model for how best to organize a society since what's best will depend on local ecologies and circumstances. The Anthropocene is likely to be an epoch of re-diversifying human cultures and societies even as coastlines shift, deserts expand and climate zones climb latitudes. What I am most concerned with is that the faulty relationship between human systems and ecological systems at the heart of the last 5,000 years. A relationship built on expansion and exploitation should be forever destroyed. Freedom from parasitism will ensure long-term survival of some sort.The final chapter of the book is titled "Meaning Beyond Progress" in which the author explores several philosophies of life that will find meaning "in deferring the fulfillment of certain present impulses in the interest of future balance." Wise individuals arriving at such a state of mind is conceivable, but one must wonder about the widespread adoption of such thinking to achieve needed change.
I will conclude this review with the following excerpt near the end of the book which can serve as a sort of summary conclusion:
For 5 millennia, progress has offered a paradise of tomorrow, a new frontier that would finally bring everlasting joy, peace and contentment, not revealing that someone else's paradise had to be destroyed to open that frontier. In order to have any future, or any worth enduring, we need a new conception of our place in our ongoing history. We might not build paradise but at least we may craft branching slivers of peace and contentment, arteries coursing through the world along which joy, life, and beauty may still pass.I had access to a prepublication ebook edition of this book using the NetGalley Reader.
July 10, 2025
While given an e-copy in exchange for an honest review, gotta say this is an overlong and America-centric criticism of a very pervasive and destructive economic, philosophical, and technological mindset that is destroying our (human) capacity to be a part of the natural world. It is quite good, and is sourced excellently and makes it easy for those that haven’t done the reading and likely won’t do the reading to have done some kind of reading. Highly rated for readability and for the ideas put forward, even if those ideas aren’t new or completely confidently stated. But this isn’t a manifesto. It’s a call to reexamine an entire civilization’s way of life. Sure. It works. For what it is. Thanks, NetGalley.
August 19, 2025
This book has a provocative premise: What if, for the past 5,000 years, human beings have not made progress? What if things have actually gotten worse?
The author interrogates the major progress myths that have governed western societies, from dominion over other species granted by Abrahamic religions, through the scientific rationality of Enlightenment thought, to manifest destiny, to the 20th-century battle between fascist, socialist, and liberal visions of progress, to billionaire promises of off-world utopias.
This is 'progress' as unrestrained economic growth, development, and expansion. Progress as an instrument of propaganda to ensure mass complacency, obedience, and subservience.
The book is challenging, stirring, and deeply original. Miller McDonald comes from a left-environmental activist background and the moral force of that experience comes through - though the book remains unorthodox in its thinking as the author strives to identify what is true over what is politically accepted.
Some early reviews have accused the book of being doomerist, but its claims are rigorously researched (Miller McDonald did a DPhil at Oxford) and grounded in hard truths about the challenges we now face: from rising authoritarianism to declining health and well-being indicators, rampant inequality to ecological annihilation.
PROGRESS is an unflinching examination of today's most pervasive belief. But it also gives us hope that progress could mean something else: ecological restoration, compounding knowledge practices, robust communities, solidarity against greed and corruption. The universe has no moral arc but the one we make.
The author interrogates the major progress myths that have governed western societies, from dominion over other species granted by Abrahamic religions, through the scientific rationality of Enlightenment thought, to manifest destiny, to the 20th-century battle between fascist, socialist, and liberal visions of progress, to billionaire promises of off-world utopias.
This is 'progress' as unrestrained economic growth, development, and expansion. Progress as an instrument of propaganda to ensure mass complacency, obedience, and subservience.
The book is challenging, stirring, and deeply original. Miller McDonald comes from a left-environmental activist background and the moral force of that experience comes through - though the book remains unorthodox in its thinking as the author strives to identify what is true over what is politically accepted.
Some early reviews have accused the book of being doomerist, but its claims are rigorously researched (Miller McDonald did a DPhil at Oxford) and grounded in hard truths about the challenges we now face: from rising authoritarianism to declining health and well-being indicators, rampant inequality to ecological annihilation.
PROGRESS is an unflinching examination of today's most pervasive belief. But it also gives us hope that progress could mean something else: ecological restoration, compounding knowledge practices, robust communities, solidarity against greed and corruption. The universe has no moral arc but the one we make.
did-not-finish
September 10, 2025"We will see many examples of the parasitic class in the following chapters, and their favourite bedtime story, the progress narrative formula, in which they are often the heroes." (14%)
Not for me. Mr. McDonald argues that the narrative of progress - that we've advanced from more primitive states, that we're moving along in some (any?) upward trajectory - is simply a lie. A lie foisted upon us by the parasitic classes that rule us - religious, political, national, ideological, economic - in order to profit themselves from our time and labor. But he goes further and makes us all parasites - parasites who are destroying the environmental and ecological systems of the planet we live on. Instead he envisions an anarchist world where we eventually go back to hunter-gatherer societies who do not take more than they need from the environment and worship animals.
"But there is comfort to be found in accepting the reality of the great repopulation of more-than-human life and the spiritual contentment that can emerge from an animistic worldview, comfort even to face the great horror or succour of nothingness in death." (74%)
I did not finish this book. I got about 15% into it and was quickly losing interest. After that I skimmed and skipped around until I became convinced that I'm not interested. It feels like a pretty bleak read. (I received an advance digital copy from the publisher.)
Not for me. Mr. McDonald argues that the narrative of progress - that we've advanced from more primitive states, that we're moving along in some (any?) upward trajectory - is simply a lie. A lie foisted upon us by the parasitic classes that rule us - religious, political, national, ideological, economic - in order to profit themselves from our time and labor. But he goes further and makes us all parasites - parasites who are destroying the environmental and ecological systems of the planet we live on. Instead he envisions an anarchist world where we eventually go back to hunter-gatherer societies who do not take more than they need from the environment and worship animals.
"But there is comfort to be found in accepting the reality of the great repopulation of more-than-human life and the spiritual contentment that can emerge from an animistic worldview, comfort even to face the great horror or succour of nothingness in death." (74%)
I did not finish this book. I got about 15% into it and was quickly losing interest. After that I skimmed and skipped around until I became convinced that I'm not interested. It feels like a pretty bleak read. (I received an advance digital copy from the publisher.)
October 25, 2025
The author analyzes the idea of progress as a narrative formula that has informed many stories people tell themselves and each other about the development of society and civilization for at least five thousand years. But, he shows, both in the times of Sumer and more recently, that has been just that: a formula that promises better things to come while at the same time explaining away and facilitating further exploitation of some humans by others and further destruction of the environment. Of course, this take is a bit schematic—necessarily so, when the entirety of history and the ideas produced throughout millennia are re-read through the lens of a single concept.
The author organizes the entirety of history according to the types of “parasitism” practiced by cultures: contiguous for the empires of the Old World, disparate for the age of European colonialism, and networked for the globalizing economy since the 20th century. He also consistently discusses what he calls “concrete energy capture”—use of resources directly from the environment—and “abstract energy capture,” as in harnessing someone’s energy to produce goods and riches for someone else in enslaved, indentured or waged labor. Have I ever seen this much use of the word "parasitism" outside the biological context since reading early Soviet takes on world politics and the need for worldwide revolution? So as I was reading, I was a bit wary of what would come when I reached his discussion of the Soviet project—would he declare that they had been right all along in their implementation of Marxist ideas? But no, phew, he doesn’t do that. Instead, he looks to what can be done in the future rather than returning to some imagined point in the past when “they already got it right.” Toward the end of the book, the narrative turns into a rallying cry outlining some obvious strategies for developing in a different direction than the current road — one on a collision course with the eventual depletion of environmental resources. I’m saying “obvious” because it’s not really anything that hasn’t been said before, which is probably for the better: it’s always strange when someone describes a problem that has existed for millennia and then suggests he’s the first ever to see a solution, right? I’m sure I’ll be returning to that final section in particular in the future.
The book is also very well written stylistically, combining a solid academic apparatus with none of the frequent obtuseness of academic prose. The primary audience is clearly non-specialists: for example, if you think it’s problematic that public discourse deliberately mixes up the notions of liberalism in the economic and social senses—and then there’s “neoliberalism” somehow related to those on top of everything—this book does a great job of setting everything straight without assuming readers should already know the exact meaning of such terms or that, if they don’t, it’s their own fault for being lost.
Publication date: December 2, 2025.
Thanks to the publisher for providing me with an eARC of this title through NetGalley. The opinion above is my own.
The author organizes the entirety of history according to the types of “parasitism” practiced by cultures: contiguous for the empires of the Old World, disparate for the age of European colonialism, and networked for the globalizing economy since the 20th century. He also consistently discusses what he calls “concrete energy capture”—use of resources directly from the environment—and “abstract energy capture,” as in harnessing someone’s energy to produce goods and riches for someone else in enslaved, indentured or waged labor. Have I ever seen this much use of the word "parasitism" outside the biological context since reading early Soviet takes on world politics and the need for worldwide revolution? So as I was reading, I was a bit wary of what would come when I reached his discussion of the Soviet project—would he declare that they had been right all along in their implementation of Marxist ideas? But no, phew, he doesn’t do that. Instead, he looks to what can be done in the future rather than returning to some imagined point in the past when “they already got it right.” Toward the end of the book, the narrative turns into a rallying cry outlining some obvious strategies for developing in a different direction than the current road — one on a collision course with the eventual depletion of environmental resources. I’m saying “obvious” because it’s not really anything that hasn’t been said before, which is probably for the better: it’s always strange when someone describes a problem that has existed for millennia and then suggests he’s the first ever to see a solution, right? I’m sure I’ll be returning to that final section in particular in the future.
The book is also very well written stylistically, combining a solid academic apparatus with none of the frequent obtuseness of academic prose. The primary audience is clearly non-specialists: for example, if you think it’s problematic that public discourse deliberately mixes up the notions of liberalism in the economic and social senses—and then there’s “neoliberalism” somehow related to those on top of everything—this book does a great job of setting everything straight without assuming readers should already know the exact meaning of such terms or that, if they don’t, it’s their own fault for being lost.
Publication date: December 2, 2025.
Thanks to the publisher for providing me with an eARC of this title through NetGalley. The opinion above is my own.
August 14, 2025
Samuel Miller McDonald's Progress is an ambitious book making a strong case for the fact that our understanding of and emphasis of progress as positive and beneficial is actually misplaced and misguided. Pulling together evidence across various fields and across history from antiquity to the present day, there's a lot to consider and this book definitely offers a lot of food for thought in reframing how we view the past, the present and what we should consider for the future. This was a challenging book to read - it's packed with information and details and it seemed repetitive as he hammered home his main points. I appreciate McDonald's different take on progress as a narrative and I can see excerpts being used to foster interesting discussions, but, for me, it was cumbersome and slow to read in parts.
Many thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the e-arc.
Many thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the e-arc.
October 5, 2025
When I was a kid, I had the same thought many other children did: that clearly South America and Africa connect like a puzzle piece. Somewhere between the fourth and fifth grades we learned about Pangea and continental drift and plate tectonics and whatnot and I and every other child in the world felt vindicated for seeing something so obvious.
A similar phenomenon occurs while reading this book; it always seemed obvious to me that you literally can't get more out of the planet than what is on the planet. No matter how vast our forests, oceans or petroleum reserves are, they all exist on this one world and this one world does not generate these resources as quickly as we can consume them. In the name of progress we have accelerated the consumption of resources on the planet through incredible and ingenious (if incredibly inefficient) developments and technologies that -beyond being unsustainable- have devastated natural ecologies and radically changed the way that humanity interacts with and experiences the world.
McDonald also challenges notions that progress is linear or that we are necessarily moving towards a better, more moral, more enlightened future. Especially in recent years, it has become harder for people to believe that tomorrow will be better than today, and McDonald's observations about the confrontation of parasitism, the effectiveness of rapid vs. incremental change, and the community level organization needed to ensure a better future rather than merely passively hope for one while doing nothing are all insightful, well-supported and well-argued.
Some may find the book a tad bleak, and unlike other popular history or science books, McDonald does not go out of his way to make humorous aphorisms or reference pop culture, so it can make for heavier reading than some might be accustomed to, but it is worth the effort invested. I think a lot of people will read this book, throw up their hands and say "well what can I do about it??" They will be angry at being called parasites and ask why they should give up their luxury goods so that others may not go hungry - I know that most people are not willing to inconvenience themselves for the good of others, let alone make real sacrifices. It is a shame that they are unlikely to read this book, because in many ways this book is for them. Selling the fantasy of utopia at some point in the far-flung future by staying the course heedless of the many warning signs is much easier than selling the reality that if our children's children wish to survive - let alone live a life worth living - we will have to put in some effort. McDonald's rhetoric can be seen to be an abject failure by that perspective, but to me at least, this book doesn't exactly seek to change the reader's mind, merely lay out the facts and establish patterns, and in that it succeeds remarkably.
A similar phenomenon occurs while reading this book; it always seemed obvious to me that you literally can't get more out of the planet than what is on the planet. No matter how vast our forests, oceans or petroleum reserves are, they all exist on this one world and this one world does not generate these resources as quickly as we can consume them. In the name of progress we have accelerated the consumption of resources on the planet through incredible and ingenious (if incredibly inefficient) developments and technologies that -beyond being unsustainable- have devastated natural ecologies and radically changed the way that humanity interacts with and experiences the world.
McDonald also challenges notions that progress is linear or that we are necessarily moving towards a better, more moral, more enlightened future. Especially in recent years, it has become harder for people to believe that tomorrow will be better than today, and McDonald's observations about the confrontation of parasitism, the effectiveness of rapid vs. incremental change, and the community level organization needed to ensure a better future rather than merely passively hope for one while doing nothing are all insightful, well-supported and well-argued.
Some may find the book a tad bleak, and unlike other popular history or science books, McDonald does not go out of his way to make humorous aphorisms or reference pop culture, so it can make for heavier reading than some might be accustomed to, but it is worth the effort invested. I think a lot of people will read this book, throw up their hands and say "well what can I do about it??" They will be angry at being called parasites and ask why they should give up their luxury goods so that others may not go hungry - I know that most people are not willing to inconvenience themselves for the good of others, let alone make real sacrifices. It is a shame that they are unlikely to read this book, because in many ways this book is for them. Selling the fantasy of utopia at some point in the far-flung future by staying the course heedless of the many warning signs is much easier than selling the reality that if our children's children wish to survive - let alone live a life worth living - we will have to put in some effort. McDonald's rhetoric can be seen to be an abject failure by that perspective, but to me at least, this book doesn't exactly seek to change the reader's mind, merely lay out the facts and establish patterns, and in that it succeeds remarkably.
October 2, 2025
This is an ambitious book! McDonald attempts an intellectual tour de force: from prehistoric societies to the Anthropocene, from myth and theology to capitalism and environmental crisis. He doesn’t just critique “progress” as a vague ideal, he traces its evolution and how it shaped institutions, beliefs, hierarchies, and our relationship with nature.
He draws in geography, history, anthropology, and philosophy. He doesn’t just gives us economic data, but myths, religious stories, ecological impacts, cultural evolution.
“Progress” has been one of our most seductive myths—promising salvation, wealth, stability. McDonald squares up to that myth, and shows the social, environmental, and moral costs.
His narrative sometimes moves from plausible historical detail into interpretative leaps but for those interested or concerned with ecological crisis, ethics of development, and cultural narratives, it’s essential reading. It reframes the problem, forces discomfort, and opens space for rethinking.
Makes you wonder if there is a middle path. A kind of progress that retains innovation, art, knowledge, technological advance — but grounded not in extraction and domination, but in relationality, equity, ecological harmony? Can societies realistically change the engine of growth — or are we stuck in a feedback loop of growth = legitimacy? McDonald gives us reasons to hope, but hope alone is not enough; transformation requires institutions, practices, narrative shifts, power change.
This, while being very analytical and academic in structure, is well researched and well written!
He draws in geography, history, anthropology, and philosophy. He doesn’t just gives us economic data, but myths, religious stories, ecological impacts, cultural evolution.
“Progress” has been one of our most seductive myths—promising salvation, wealth, stability. McDonald squares up to that myth, and shows the social, environmental, and moral costs.
His narrative sometimes moves from plausible historical detail into interpretative leaps but for those interested or concerned with ecological crisis, ethics of development, and cultural narratives, it’s essential reading. It reframes the problem, forces discomfort, and opens space for rethinking.
Makes you wonder if there is a middle path. A kind of progress that retains innovation, art, knowledge, technological advance — but grounded not in extraction and domination, but in relationality, equity, ecological harmony? Can societies realistically change the engine of growth — or are we stuck in a feedback loop of growth = legitimacy? McDonald gives us reasons to hope, but hope alone is not enough; transformation requires institutions, practices, narrative shifts, power change.
This, while being very analytical and academic in structure, is well researched and well written!
October 15, 2025
It took me quite awhile to read this book. Not because it was uninteresting, but because I needed to read slowly and fully digest the subject material. For me, this was not a book to skim or binge read. I wanted to take my time to understand the information so I could form an educated opinion.
Progress is written in a very academic style. This will not appeal to all readers. He presents history and facts ranging from geography and history to philosophy and religion, tracing the effects of progress on society and cultures. I enjoyed how he presented the facts and then applied them to form an interpretive picture of progress across the centuries.
Very thought provoking. How many millions of people and how many cultures have been decimated and destroyed over the years in the name of progress formulated from greed and dominance? So, so many. What a waste.
I wish humanity tended more towards harmony and building knowledge, rather than dominance and destruction.
This book will have me thinking for a very long time. I'm still going on tangents of reading and research from notes I took while reading. So interesting! It will take me awhile to build my own educated opinion on this, but the journey and learning is the main goal!
I will keep this author on my radar and definitely read more from him!
**I voluntarily read a review copy of this book from St Martins Press. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**
Progress is written in a very academic style. This will not appeal to all readers. He presents history and facts ranging from geography and history to philosophy and religion, tracing the effects of progress on society and cultures. I enjoyed how he presented the facts and then applied them to form an interpretive picture of progress across the centuries.
Very thought provoking. How many millions of people and how many cultures have been decimated and destroyed over the years in the name of progress formulated from greed and dominance? So, so many. What a waste.
I wish humanity tended more towards harmony and building knowledge, rather than dominance and destruction.
This book will have me thinking for a very long time. I'm still going on tangents of reading and research from notes I took while reading. So interesting! It will take me awhile to build my own educated opinion on this, but the journey and learning is the main goal!
I will keep this author on my radar and definitely read more from him!
**I voluntarily read a review copy of this book from St Martins Press. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**
October 21, 2025
𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧:
I like the book cover. It is simple, minimalist, and relevant. The title is straightforward and meaningful.
𝐎𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧:
✓ The book explores how humanity has put the planet at risk in its pursuit of progress and civilisation.
✓ Through this work, Samuel challenges the ideology that separates civilisational growth from environmental well-being and even from humanity itself. Exploitation of nature and violation of humanitarian principles through slavery and genocide have often formed the foundation of societal progress.
✓ Samuel emphasizes the need to change this perception and proposes alternatives while analysing historical developments in depth.
✓ While I do not entirely agree with his interpretations of certain religious aspects, I truly appreciate his courage to address such a vital and thought-provoking subject.
✓ The book delves into themes of ecology and animism, while also discussing systems of hierarchy, modernism, and neoliberalism.
✓ To be honest, it is a deeply insightful book. Even if you do not agree with every argument, you will likely find yourself resonating with most of the ideas presented. It is an important read that encourages reflection and awareness.
✓ I would not recommend it for beginners, as the content is intense, the book is slightly long, and non-readers may find the language, complex. However, for non-fiction readers, especially those interested in history, this is a must-read.
I like the book cover. It is simple, minimalist, and relevant. The title is straightforward and meaningful.
𝐎𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧:
✓ The book explores how humanity has put the planet at risk in its pursuit of progress and civilisation.
✓ Through this work, Samuel challenges the ideology that separates civilisational growth from environmental well-being and even from humanity itself. Exploitation of nature and violation of humanitarian principles through slavery and genocide have often formed the foundation of societal progress.
✓ Samuel emphasizes the need to change this perception and proposes alternatives while analysing historical developments in depth.
✓ While I do not entirely agree with his interpretations of certain religious aspects, I truly appreciate his courage to address such a vital and thought-provoking subject.
✓ The book delves into themes of ecology and animism, while also discussing systems of hierarchy, modernism, and neoliberalism.
✓ To be honest, it is a deeply insightful book. Even if you do not agree with every argument, you will likely find yourself resonating with most of the ideas presented. It is an important read that encourages reflection and awareness.
✓ I would not recommend it for beginners, as the content is intense, the book is slightly long, and non-readers may find the language, complex. However, for non-fiction readers, especially those interested in history, this is a must-read.
September 19, 2025
Thanks to Samuel Miller McDonald, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for access to the Advanced Reader Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
In this book the author takes an in-depth review of human progress from ancient cultures through roman times and into today. Throughout the book religion and political systems are highlighted as frequent rationales for human activity, most often targeting growth to the detriment of non-ruling peoples, animals, and the environment. At the end, the author describes some principles and approaches to a new view of progress that is inclusive of all peoples and protective of our environment.
This is not a book for everyone. Written in an academic style and approach, many will find the dense prose and vocabulary challenging. I found many of the arguments insightful and presented with a new perspective but ultimately depressing. And the solutions advocated seem more of the “we should just all be better”, rather than practical, implementable solutions.
In this book the author takes an in-depth review of human progress from ancient cultures through roman times and into today. Throughout the book religion and political systems are highlighted as frequent rationales for human activity, most often targeting growth to the detriment of non-ruling peoples, animals, and the environment. At the end, the author describes some principles and approaches to a new view of progress that is inclusive of all peoples and protective of our environment.
This is not a book for everyone. Written in an academic style and approach, many will find the dense prose and vocabulary challenging. I found many of the arguments insightful and presented with a new perspective but ultimately depressing. And the solutions advocated seem more of the “we should just all be better”, rather than practical, implementable solutions.
September 27, 2025
The author did a lot of research and is very detailed in his analysis. He gives a great argument regarding how we define progress, what has shaped this idea and how it is skewed. Main complaint is that book is too long and too detailed.
October 7, 2025
This book has a provocative premise: What if, for the past 5,000 years, human beings have not made progress? What if things have actually gotten worse?
The author interrogates the major progress myths that have governed western societies, from dominion over other species granted by Abrahamic religions, through the scientific rationality of Enlightenment thought, to manifest destiny, to the 20th-century battle between fascist, socialist, and liberal visions of progress, to billionaire promises of off-world utopias.
This is 'progress' as unrestrained economic growth, development, and expansion. Progress as an instrument of propaganda to ensure mass complacency, obedience, and subservience.
The book is challenging, stirring, and deeply original. Miller McDonald comes from a left-environmental activist background and the moral force of that experience comes through - though the book remains unorthodox in its thinking as the author strives to identify what is true over what is politically accepted.
Some early reviews have accused the book of being doomerist, but its claims are rigorously researched (Miller McDonald did a DPhil at Oxford) and grounded in hard truths about the challenges we now face: from rising authoritarianism to declining health and well-being indicators, rampant inequality to ecological annihilation.
PROGRESS is an unflinching examination of today's most pervasive belief. But it also gives us hope that progress could mean something else: ecological restoration, compounding knowledge practices, robust communities, solidarity against greed and corruption. The universe has no moral arc but the one we make.
The author interrogates the major progress myths that have governed western societies, from dominion over other species granted by Abrahamic religions, through the scientific rationality of Enlightenment thought, to manifest destiny, to the 20th-century battle between fascist, socialist, and liberal visions of progress, to billionaire promises of off-world utopias.
This is 'progress' as unrestrained economic growth, development, and expansion. Progress as an instrument of propaganda to ensure mass complacency, obedience, and subservience.
The book is challenging, stirring, and deeply original. Miller McDonald comes from a left-environmental activist background and the moral force of that experience comes through - though the book remains unorthodox in its thinking as the author strives to identify what is true over what is politically accepted.
Some early reviews have accused the book of being doomerist, but its claims are rigorously researched (Miller McDonald did a DPhil at Oxford) and grounded in hard truths about the challenges we now face: from rising authoritarianism to declining health and well-being indicators, rampant inequality to ecological annihilation.
PROGRESS is an unflinching examination of today's most pervasive belief. But it also gives us hope that progress could mean something else: ecological restoration, compounding knowledge practices, robust communities, solidarity against greed and corruption. The universe has no moral arc but the one we make.
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