A single missile laser-targeted at a careless, feckless ruling elite who have ignored the wants and wills of the vast majority of voters … The fundamental thrust of Goodwin’s argument is right. … a new centre ground of British politics is being formed – even if both parties have yet to fully comprehend it.

A much-needed corrective. It gives voice to those whose values are scarcely heard or represented by the media … impassioned and convincing.

Goodwin’s central thesis is that the rise of the radical right, the Brexit referendum and Johnson’s general election victory of 2019 are expressions of a deeper realignment in UK politics that pits the marginalised white working class, socially conservative older voters and the ‘non-graduate majority’ against a new elite of university-educated progressives.

The most consistent chronicler of events that have upturned the UK several times … there is much to recommend it as an antidote against the madness of our times.

Well-written and cogently argued … [Goodwin] understands the broad forces that spurred the surprising changes and tumult in the politics of the West, and he writes about them without villainizing or heroizing … a crucial one to read.

This book is a valuable read for understanding better the cause of our recent democratic upheavals.

Hot property… [from] an insightful author and a trendsetting ‘entrepreneurial academic’, combining his scholarly work with writing punchy op-eds and making his case on TV and radio.

Goodwin is angry on behalf of the white working class. He wants a political programme that offers them more protection from the gales of international economic competition and from the erosion of their socially conservative values.