Reaching for Utopia brings together insightful essays and profiles chronicling the remarkable political and cultural transformations of the last decade – from the fall of Blair to the rise of Corbyn and Brexit. Cowley is fascinated by the men and women obsessed with creating the history of our era as well as those who document it. He has met and interviewed all the major political players shaping and changing the way we live today.

The book features fascinating, wide-ranging narrative profiles of Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, the Miliband brothers, Jeremy Corbyn, Alex Salmond, Nigel Farage, David Cameron, George Osborne and Theresa May. No other journalist has met and interviewed all of these politicians

The book also showcases literary-political assessments of some of the major writers of our time whose mission it is to tell the story of our times, including Philip Roth, Martin Amis, Ian McEwan, John le Carré and Kazuo Ishiguro.

Cowley is one of the most influential journalists in Britain. He is notable for being both a political and literary journalist. And he also writes about sport, especially football, and covered the 2006 World Cup in Germany for the Observer.

Cowley has been widely credited with transforming the fortunes of the New Statesman, which in 2017 has recorded its highest print circulation for nearly 40 years as well as becoming a major digital title with rapidly growing online profile. According to the European Press Prize, 'Cowley has succeeded in revitalising the New Statesman and re-establishing its position as an influential political and cultural weekly. He has given the New Statesman an edge and a relevance to current affairs it hasn't had for years.'

Cowley has consistently been included in the London Evening Standard's list of the 1,000 Most Influential People in London. He was named among Britain's most influential 500 people by Debrett's 500 in association with the Sunday Times in 2015.