Michael Lind, a prolific writer on American politics and political economy, argues that the United States and other Western democracies are experiencing a new class war between a credentialed overclass and the working-class majority. Unlike earlier class conflicts that centered on ownership of capital, Lind contends that today's divide separates those with advanced degrees and professional status from those without, regardless of income. This 'managerial elite' dominates government, universities, media, and corporations, promoting values and policies that serve their interests while dismissing working-class concerns as retrograde or bigoted. Lind examines how this class division manifests in political realignment, with working-class voters increasingly supporting populist parties across the political spectrum. He draws on the history of earlier class compromises, particularly the postwar settlement that empowered labor unions and constrained elite prerogatives, to argue that stability requires genuine power-sharing between classes. The book criticizes both neoliberals who deny class conflict exists and populist demagogues who exploit it without offering genuine solutions. Lind's proposed remedies involve reviving institutions that give working people genuine power: unions, local political organizations, and professional associations that are not dominated by the credentialed. Readers across the political spectrum will find their assumptions challenged by this analysis, which refuses the comfortable categories of contemporary political debate.