Once the world’s bastion of liberal, democratic values, Europe is now needing to confront demons it thought it had laid to rest. The previous pathologies of anti-Semitism, populist nationalism, and territorial aggression are threatening to rip the Western postwar consensus aside. In riveting dispatches from this unfolding tragedy, James Kirchick displays us the shallow disingenuousness from the leaders who forced for “Brexit;” examines what sort of vast migrant influx is usually exacerbating tensions between Europeans and their Muslim minorities; explores the rising anti-Semitism that triggers Jewish colleges and synagogues in France and Germany to resemble equipped bunkers; and describes how Russian imperial ambitions are destabilizing nations from Estonia to Ukraine. With Leader Trump now intimidating to abandon America’s traditional function as upholder from the liberal globe order and guarantor of the contient’s protection, Europe may be alone in dealing with these unprecedented problems.

Based on extensive firsthand reporting, this book is a provocative, troubling look at a continent in unexpected crisis.