diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 44cf7224d64..8dddebcf34a 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -158,17 +158,9 @@ for extra_requirements_filename in os.listdir(extra_requirements_dir):
         with open(os.path.join(extra_requirements_dir, extra_requirements_filename)) as extra_requirements_file:
             extra_requirements[filename_match.group(1)] = extra_requirements_file.read().splitlines()
 
-try:
-    with open('README.rst', 'r') as readme_file:
-        longdesc = readme_file.read()
-except (IOError, OSError):
-    longdesc = ('Ansible is a radically simple IT automation system. It handles'
-                ' configuration-management, application deployment, cloud provisioning, ad-hoc'
-                ' task-execution, and multinode orchestration - including trivializing things like'
-                ' zero-downtime rolling updates with load balancers.\n'
-                '\n'
-                'Read the documentation and more at https://ansible.com/'
-                )
+# Retrieve the long description from the README
+with open('README.rst', 'r') as readme_file:
+    longdesc = readme_file.read()
 
 setup(
     # Use the distutils SDist so that symlinks are not expanded