Examining history through the lens of Bertrand de Jouvenel's "high-low vs. middle" mechanism, C. A. Bond shows that liberalism--far from a force for decentralization and peace--results rather in hyper-centralization and chronic conflict.

Ranging over such phenomena as Athenian democracy, radical Islam, Black Lives Matter, NGOs, the Enlightenment, the civil rights era, and feminism, Bond offers a secure theoretical basis for the illiberal revolt currently engulfing our world.