Rutger Bregman

Rutger Christiaan Bregman (born 26 April 1988) is a Dutch historian and author.

Bregman published four books, most notably Utopia for Realists, which has been translated into thirty-two languages. His work has been featured in The Washington Post, The Guardian and by the BBC. He has been described by The Guardian as the "Dutch wunderkind of new ideas" and by TED Talks as "one of Europe's most prominent young thinkers". His TED Talk, "Poverty Isn't a Lack of Character; It's a Lack of Cash", was chosen by TED curator Chris Anderson as one of the top ten of 2017.

Early life and education

Bregman was born in Renesse. His father is a Protestant minister, while his mother is a special needs teacher. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in history at Utrecht University in 2009. He earned his Master of Arts in history in 2012, partly at Utrecht and partly at the University of California, Los Angeles. His graduate studies concentrated on cities, states and citizenship. He was a member of Christian student association SSR-NU.

Career

Bregman thought of becoming an academic historian, but began working as a journalist instead. He worked about 10 years in what he calls the "awareness industry", before quitting journalism, after what he called an early midlife crisis and becoming an entrepreneur though he still writes for the online journal De Correspondent, He was twice nominated for the European Press Prize for his work there. His articles have also been published in The Guardian, The Washington Post, Evonomics, and The Conversation.