In our November/December issue a panel of writers, starting with the historian Patrick Dillon, tackled the second of our Big Questions: what was the best time and place to be alive? You may think it's a no-brainer: today in the West people have longer lives, better health and more equality than in the past. But as Dillon points out in his piece, this is also a question "about lifestyle and ideas, people and manners, things that ebb and flow". There may have been a spot of the plague about in 1599, but you could also see Shakespeare's plays performed for the first time. Athens in the fifth century BC was fighting the Peloponnesian War but also giving birth to democracy while Socrates taught Plato philosophy. Dillon opted for London in the 1690s, when, he wrote, "The modern world is starting, and I want to be there."
Five other contributors came up with their own answers: Arkady Ostrovsky argued that Russia between the 1870s and the 1900s was the best time to be alive, and Robert Guest that it was Heian-era Japan (784-1185AD). Lucy Kellaway went for the Pacific north-west coast of America c.15,000 BC; J.M. Ledgard for Princeton in 1949; and Ann Wroe for early childhood. Which do you think most persuasive? Perhaps none of them at all. Have your say by voting in our poll below.
Early Childhood
30% (575 votes)
Princeton, 1949
24% (451 votes)
London in the 1690s
13% (249 votes)
America c.15,000BC
8% (150 votes)
Japan, 784-1185AD
8% (146 votes)
Russia, 1870s-1900s
6% (119 votes)
NOW (other)
0% (4 votes)
Today (other)
0% (3 votes)
Paris in the 1920s (other)
0% (2 votes)
India during the peaceful latter years of the reign of Emporer Ashok (late third century BCE) (other)
0% (2 votes)
Viking Age Scandinavia: where else get that sort of adventure (other)
0% (2 votes)
France before WW1 (other)
0% (2 votes)
Paris, 1920s (other)
0% (2 votes)
India 14th-15th Ce. (other)
0% (2 votes)
Greece, Athens, Classical period, True democracy, Culture, Light (other)
0% (1 vote)
The United States, early 1960s. Flying was fun, sex was safe, Ayds was a reducing candy. (other)
0% (1 vote)
America during the revolutionary War. The birth of the United States and era of many of America's greatest leaders. (other)
0% (1 vote)
1900 Fred Harvey's Western US (other)
0% (1 vote)
Rome, late 1st c. B.C. - early 1st c. A.D. (beginning of imperial ascendency; high civilization; intellectual culture) (other)
0% (1 vote)
Canada in 1950s & early 60s.Stable government,economy (incl full employment),society +access to medicine & higher education. (other)
0% (1 vote)
Now: Never before have more people lived free from oppresion and in relative prosperity. (other)
0% (1 vote)
Renaissance Italy - art, food and fashion; sense of revival and change; liberal sexual mores and no New World STDs. . (other)
0% (1 vote)
Rome, 2nd century AD--Gibbon had it right. Otherwise, Shakespeare's London just to settle once and for all who wrote the plays. (other)
0% (1 vote)
Florence (italy ), 1450-1492 (other)
0% (1 vote)
Silicon Valley, 1994-1999 (other)
0% (1 vote)
Bogota Colombia, 1975 (other)
0% (1 vote)
cheyenne mountain underground complex, zombie apocalypse (other)
0% (1 vote)
venice 1700s. The city was at the hight of its glory and hometown to adventures such as Da Ponte and Casanova (other)
0% (1 vote)
Andalucia, 1000 C.E. (other)
0% (1 vote)
Late 19th Century Germany (other)
0% (1 vote)
india 1100 peaceful cultarally wealthy place (other)
0% (1 vote)
here and now (other)
0% (1 vote)
Now, this is the most amazing and exciting time to be alive! (other)
0% (1 vote)
Italy at the Renaissance. I believe it is great because of all the new discoveries that were made at that time plus the art and (other)
0% (1 vote)
London, 1960s (other)
0% (1 vote)
1760-1840 America, to see the founding fathers, beginning of westward expansion, and start of industry (other)
0% (1 vote)
Tomorrow in my own home, it is doable, I want to keep breathing and I'm in a good place. Non above have pain killers (other)
0% (1 vote)
2011 CE. Insulin and I would not be around otherwise. Sigh! (other)
0% (1 vote)
ROMAN REPUBLIC/EMPIRE around 0AD - Safe civil system (for Romans) and no polution (sea and atmospheric). (other)
0% (1 vote)
The World, 2142. There is nothing more exciting than the future, experiencing the yet unknown and untold stories of history. (other)
0% (1 vote)
France; 1968 (other)
0% (1 vote)
nowadays (other)
0% (1 vote)
Late Republican/Early Principate Ancient Rome: a massive game of political chess and the reinvention of an empire (other)
0% (1 vote)
The day before the End of the World (other)
0% (1 vote)
1960s California (other)
0% (1 vote)
vienna 1870-1910 (other)
0% (1 vote)
Rome 30AD (other)
0% (1 vote)
Rome in '50-60. for the cultural moment in terms of literatures and cinema (other)
0% (1 vote)
1920's Harlem New York interesting time for writers and jazz. (other)
0% (1 vote)
California 1920's-50's (other)
0% (1 vote)
American Civil War (other)
0% (1 vote)
Athens 480 - 430 BC (other)
0% (1 vote)
Berlin, 1920's (the roaring twenties - what more do I have to say?) (other)
0% (1 vote)
weimar era berlin (other)
0% (1 vote)
America, 1960 - For breakthroughs in Genetics and Quantum Physics, Counter Culture, Beatles and Bob Dylan (other)
0% (1 vote)
Now!! Because you LIVE longer !!! (other)
0% (1 vote)
GREAT BRITAIN, 1880s - Victorian Empire, British strength (other)
0% (1 vote)
usa 1960 (other)
0% (1 vote)
New York in the 1890s. The ferment of immigration, industrialization, urbanization. (other)
0% (1 vote)
1920s -- England (other)
0% (1 vote)
Al-Andalus, 900 - 1100 AD (other)
0% (1 vote)
London 1890 to be english and be able to work any were in the World and be sure you were right (other)
0% (1 vote)
Scandinavia, c. 1980 - the most maximal combination of freedom and security yet attained by humans (other)
0% (1 vote)
USA John F Kennedy precidensy, first time a president serious about the human rights declaration (other)
0% (1 vote)
Today in the Western World (other)
0% (1 vote)
Rennaisance (other)
0% (1 vote)
Right Now, Practically Anywhere (other)
0% (1 vote)
renaissance 1450 Italy (Florence) Flowering of art and culture (other)
0% (1 vote)
France, at the time of impressionism and post-impressionism 1840-1910 (other)
0% (1 vote)
London in the 1960's. It was a time when social barriers were coming down and everything seemed possible. (other)
0% (1 vote)
America 1946-63, as a white male (other)
0% (1 vote)
Paris, 1960s (other)
0% (1 vote)
New York City, 1960s, because that is when the world as we know it now was born: art, technology, civil rights, social mobility. (other)
0% (1 vote)
Delhi - During the Mughal period (other)
0% (1 vote)
1920s Paris (other)
0% (1 vote)
Atlantic world (U.S., France, England) 1770-1800 (other)
0% (1 vote)
Rio de Janeiro, 1958 (other)
0% (1 vote)
Baghdad 900 (other)
0% (1 vote)
mid eighteenth century western Europe (other)
0% (1 vote)
Constaninople, 1000 (other)
0% (1 vote)
10,000+BC Africa. This is where civilization started when Mankind and nature was one. The Greeks say it is the goldern age (other)
0% (1 vote)
Aruba, 2007 (other)
0% (1 vote)
Today is the best time to be alive... rapid and dynamic changes, and dawn of the impact of the computer age on culture (other)
0% (1 vote)
Mali Empire c. 1230-1600 (other)
0% (1 vote)
1768/71, on the Endeavour with James Cook, travelling around Australia and New Zealand. (other)
0% (1 vote)
London, 1837-1901 (other)
0% (1 vote)
2000s (other)
0% (1 vote)
USA 1950-2000. Period of peace, better health, prosperity, expanding economy (for the most part) (other)
0% (1 vote)
England in the 1960's - musical revolution and world football champions (other)
0% (1 vote)
Rome XIV century (caput mundi of arts and culture) (other)
0% (1 vote)
CALIFORNIA, 1955 (other)
0% (1 vote)
Italy, tomorrow (other)
0% (1 vote)
England,1750S (other)
0% (1 vote)
50' (other)
0% (1 vote)
ROMAN EMPIRE, 120 AD. Hadrian ruling. (other)
0% (1 vote)
late 21st century. could be a good place. (other)
0% (1 vote)
Delhi (1556 - 1605). Akbar's reign in Northern India was a time of unrivalled prosperity, and the high point of the Mughal Era. (other)
0% (1 vote)
America, Early 20th Century, Growth and Dynamism (other)
0% (1 vote)
France 1817-1820 sailing with l'Uranie of Cpt. Freycinet (other)
0% (1 vote)
The Florentine Renaissance, 1450-1520 (other)
0% (1 vote)
Woodstock 1969 - 'cause I love power flower movement (other)
0% (1 vote)
Middle east during the Persian empire (other)
0% (1 vote)
London in the victorian age (1837-1901) (other)
0% (1 vote)
Florence, XV/XVI Centuries - to meet the likes of Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raffaello, Machiavelli, Brunelleschi, Galileo (other)
0% (1 vote)
India Indus Valley 6000 BC. From the ruins one can guage an highly egalitarian society. No other society was so egalitarian. (other)
0% (1 vote)
CHINA, 630-755AD duiring that time, China witnessed the golden age of culture. People were honest and considrat (other)
0% (1 vote)
England as an aristocrat, Edwardian Era. This was the era of the highest class and culture in western history. Elegance reigned. (other)
0% (1 vote)
current day (other)
0% (1 vote)
england 1960-1970 (other)
0% (1 vote)
1960 s (other)
0% (1 vote)
current first-world middle class (other)
0% (1 vote)
USA 1950's (other)
0% (1 vote)
Paris in the 1920s - a melting pot of artists, writers and poets at the cusp of an unusually fertile intellectual period. (other)
0% (1 vote)
Baghdad, 9th-10th century (unseen luxury, classical Arabic poetry, vast empire) (other)
0% (1 vote)
Germany between the wars. Unruly creativity and politics to form and shape. With a hope of an alternative outcome, of course. (other)
0% (1 vote)
Now is the best time (other)
0% (1 vote)
1966: Hendrix, the Beatles, the Stones, Dylan.. (other)
0% (1 vote)
India.. kerala (other)
0% (1 vote)
Paris in the 1920s To experience the cultural revolution of the expat american writers and the surrealist movement. (other)
0% (1 vote)
PERICLEAN GREECE (other)
0% (1 vote)
Ancient India - with the mystical air of Gods, the simplicity of life, the realisation of what is actually important in life!! (other)
0% (1 vote)
NYC,1980's (other)
0% (1 vote)
Manhattan, NY. Post WWII (other)
0% (1 vote)
Italy in the 1960S & 1970S - Post war Economic boom, re-inventing everyday life with design (other)
0% (1 vote)
NY 1920_1925 (other)
0% (1 vote)
London 1960s. The pendulum years when new freedoms, new ideas, new fashions, new media echoed the spirit co (other)
0% (1 vote)
France, 19th century- (1780-1850). From Napoleon's Saga to the beginning of Democracy, and authors like Hugo.. (other)
0% (1 vote)
1940-1966 Israel. To witness the birth of modern Israel. (other)
0% (1 vote)
Now, D'Oh (other)
0% (1 vote)
Sarajevo (other)
0% (1 vote)
Lhasa, 1912-1951 (other)
0% (1 vote)
Brazil, 2011-2012 (other)
0% (1 vote)
The 1970's in New York. Everything cool happened then. Punk was born etc. (other)
0% (1 vote)
England 1970s (other)
0% (1 vote)
US 1964 (other)
0% (1 vote)
North-East America 1920s (other)
0% (1 vote)
Now? (other)
0% (1 vote)
America in the 1940s. The tender jazz music and the fancy outings would be irresistable (other)
0% (1 vote)
Armenia in the 4rd 5rd centuries (other)
0% (1 vote)
Japan in the mid 1980's. The birth of the modern technology era, in a time when everything seemed possible and fresh. (other)
0% (1 vote)
The 3 years that Jesus preached in Palestine about 30 A.D. (other)
0% (1 vote)
America, The Roaring Twenties. There was economic prosperity, flapper dresses, speakeasies, suffrage movement, literature, jazz. (other)
0% (1 vote)
Nowadadays in Latin America, Sillicon Valey or China. (other)
0% (1 vote)
Paris, in the '20s (other)
0% (1 vote)
now and wherever you are (other)
0% (1 vote)
Prague 1920s (other)
0% (1 vote)
Paris in the 1920S for all the commonly cited & well documented reasons (other)
0% (1 vote)
Venice 1400-1450 (the most dynamic commercial cosmopolitan place in the world, head of a thalassocracy (other)
0% (1 vote)
The Royal Library of Alexandria, 49BC (other)
0% (1 vote)
Now: economic and environmental concerns aside, the intellectual climate and ease of information access is unparalleled. (other)
0% (1 vote)
1990-1999 (peak of humanity) (other)
0% (1 vote)
Victorian England (other)
0% (1 vote)
somewhere in future (other)
0% (1 vote)
Me in 2009, from April to June, when I still had not developed a tolerance to DXM, sitting 'round with God all the time. (other)
0% (1 vote)
New York City, 1980's (other)
0% (1 vote)
Tt (other)
0% (1 vote)
today - interesting times - getting more interesting by the day - and easy to keep up with via the Web (other)
0% (1 vote)
1960-1972 (other)
0% (1 vote)
China，960S-1270S (other)
0% (1 vote)
Paris in 1920s. france anytime would be good but in the early 20th Century it was a haven for artists. (other)
0% (1 vote)
Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro - sixties (other)
0% (1 vote)
Japan, Edo, 1639-1854 (other)
0% (1 vote)
TURKEY (other)
0% (1 vote)
Seattle (other)
0% (1 vote)
New York 1920s -- Jazz Age, NYC becoming the first city in the world (other)
0% (1 vote)
CHINA,220——589AD (other)
0% (1 vote)
Now, anywhere (other)
0% (1 vote)
France 1555: decent rule Medici king, a plague treatment emerged, first stir of science but magic still exists, vast libraries. (other)
0% (1 vote)
1990s : best time as a child (other)
0% (1 vote)
Germany 1920s (other)
0% (1 vote)
modern day scandanavia- low violence, relatively humane gvt, & low # of crazy jesus freaks (other)
0% (1 vote)
California, last half of the 20th century, until around 1990 (other)
0% (1 vote)
China in 2050 (other)
0% (1 vote)
Beijing (other)
0% (1 vote)
China, 1033~1105 (other)
0% (1 vote)
3rd century Ireland--pre St. Patrick, pre-Strongbow (other)
0% (1 vote)
1900 - 30, UK. A time of great change, but also a time when beauty was equal to function, today is an ugly time to live in. (other)
0% (1 vote)
i cant tell you the best, but i got the worst one. China in Cultural Revolution文化大革命 (other)
0% (1 vote)
China, Tang Dynasty (other)
0% (1 vote)
India 1940-50: Freedom & Partition had not yet come to India. It was a time for idealism, sacrifice & building a nation. (other)
0% (1 vote)
san francisco 1966 (other)
0% (1 vote)
California, 1492 (other)
0% (1 vote)
Kingdom of Aksum, 200-300 AD (when it was still a pre-Christian, polytheistic hub for trade) (other)
0% (1 vote)
venice, xvi century (other)
0% (1 vote)
Right now - United States (other)
0% (1 vote)
USA Last half of 20th century (other)
0% (1 vote)
Ghana, March,1957. Independence from Britain was a few days away, All new Electricity, jobs, motorway... Coups were far away. (other)
0% (1 vote)
I chose early ch (other)
0% (1 vote)
Persia during Cyrus and Darius of aechamrnid dynasty's reigns. I refer u to Cyrus's scroll on human rights .... (other)
0% (1 vote)
Early youth at the Upper Penninsula (Michigan): Nature at its best (other)
0% (1 vote)
Paris- Belle Epoque. Everything is gorgeous and spirited (other)
0% (1 vote)
Paris in 1960s (other)
0% (1 vote)
It seems like a peaceful time (other)
0% (1 vote)
Be here now.Occupy now. (other)
0% (1 vote)
BRAZIL before 1500 (Before the Portuguese landed) (other)
0% (1 vote)
China (other)
0% (1 vote)
18th century France. Because of the degree of refinement in arts and philosophy. (other)
0% (1 vote)
Spain in 1492 (other)
0% (1 vote)
Jerusalem, july 1967 (other)
0% (1 vote)
New York 1990 (other)
0% (1 vote)
Greece, before Christ (other)
0% (1 vote)
America C. 1920's Harlem (other)
0% (1 vote)
New York, end of 1960s & 1970s (other)
0% (1 vote)
Normandy 1944 (other)
0% (1 vote)
Damascus, 1940s (other)
0% (1 vote)
2011 in Australia, one of the most peaceful, wealthy and decent nations of the world. (other)
0% (1 vote)
Ancient Greece (other)
0% (1 vote)
1960's (other)
0% (1 vote)
Total voters: 1898