Round and round we go.

More's Utopia seems to have fallen out of fashion since its modern heyday in the mid-1960s. During those years, and the decades immediately preceding and following them, the book was more or less adopted by Marxist "philosophers" and historians. Utopia, though, was intended to be an ironic commentary on society as it was in More's time, not a primer on creating the ideal world. There is much in the work that could apply to every era, not just to the early 16th century, but even to today. Here, read this:

"They once waged a war to obtain another kingdom for their king, which he claimed was his due inheritance because of some old affinity. When they finally won it, they saw that they had just as much trouble holding on to it as they had endured in gaining it. And seeds of rebellion were ever springing up within, or invasion from without. So they always had to fight either for the people they had conquered or against them. They never had an opportunity to dismiss their army and all the time their resources were being drained and their money going abroad. Their blood was being spent on others' glory and peace was no safer. At home characters had become corrupted by war, people had tasted the joy of robbery, boldness was strengthened by slaughter, the laws were held in contempt."