The greatest threat to modern democracy comes from within and it has a name: resentment.
Stemming from feelings of inferiority in relation to others resentment is a diffuse and
obsessive loathing coupled with delusions of victimhood which clouds one's judgment and
perspective so that an individual's capacity to act and heal is paralyzed. Without the ability
to heal resentment can give rise to violent impulses to the rejection of the rule of law the
proliferation of conspiracy theories and the urge to use violent means to try to regain
control of one's life. As individuals and as societies we face the same challenge: how to
diagnose resentment and its dark forces and how to resist the temptation to allow it to become
the motor of our individual and collective histories. This bestselling and highly original
account of the psychic forces shaping modern societies will be of great interest to anyone
concerned about the crisis of democracy today and what we can do to address it.
