Contemporary political theory of a wide variety of stripes has become obsessed with the difference between normative and descriptive political theory, non-ideal versus ideal political philosophy, realism in political theory as against idealism in political theory and so on. In short, despite a lot of spilt ink (or ‘screen time’) on the subject, the troubled distinction between description and prescription in political theory has, if anything, become even more entrenched. This has led some otherwise sensible political theory realists to undermine the role and function of utopian thinking as central to critical and engaged political theory (Galston 2010; Markell 2010; Valentini 2012; cf. Estlund 2020).

As is apparent in all of the chapters in this volume, despite an otherwise wide variety of interpretations, applications or concerns, Rick Turner does quite the opposite. Admittedly in a different context, he is firmly focused on the role of utopian thinking, living, pedagogy and associated practices. Though, for at least two reasons, this should not surprise. First, the stubborn legacies of apartheid, exemplified in extremis during the July 2021 civil unrest in South Africa, as well as the many crises and protests across the globe, suggest we are a lot closer to his own conditions than we might hope. Second, there is a core of ideas, whose imaginative powers speak to many oppressive contexts, including our own, exemplified in the fact that all of the authors collected here, even the most critical (for example chapters 3, 4 and 6), find instructive guidance or at least stimulus for fresh leaps of the imagination as regards how better to live collectively. In The Eye of the Needle, Turner emphasises the role of utopian thinking with great force and application. He argues that this thinking is necessary for social and political change as it counters the tendency to think of existing institutions, needs and values as natural and fixed. It enables us to understand our society better and thus judge well how to improve it.