Utopia

Lawyer, social philosopher, author and saint, Thomas More coined the very word "Utopia," which is part of our everyday lexicon. His most controversial work, Utopia chronicles the travels of Raphael to the imaginary island country of Utopia, which was a play on the Greek words ou-topos and eu-topos, which meant "no place" and "good place." The novel allowed More to cover a range of controversial subjects within this fictional Utopia, including religion and politics. The book, of course, is a forerunner to today's literary genre of Utopia where ideal societies and perfect cities are the subject matter of fiction. More's own life was hardly Utopian, however. He was imprisoned by Henry VIII for refusing to acknowledge the king as the Supreme Head of the Church of England and eventually executed for his stand.