Table of Contents Introduction Chapter 1: America on the Brink Chapter 2: The Mainstream/Political Class Divide Chapter 3: The Divide: A Data Portrait Chapter 4: The Great Divide and the Populist Upsurge Chapter 5: Left Populism: Principles and Resurgence Chapter 6: Hopes Dashed: Obama and the Left Chapter 7: Right-Wing Populism: Principles and Resurgence Chapter 8: George W. Bush and the Right-Wing Implosion Chapter 9: Independent Voters: Angry, Volatile, and Growing Chapter 10: The Power of Money Chapter 11: The K Street Effect: How Lobbyists Have Saturated Public Policy Chapter 12: Redistricting, Race, and the Political Class Conclusion: Reform or Fail

In his timely newest (after The Political Fix), veteran political consultant and pundit Schoen (who has worked with the likes of Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, and Michael Bloomberg) deftly explores the destructive partisanship that is currently paralyzing Washington, as evidenced by the obstructionism in Congress that led to the debt-ceiling crisis of 2011. The reasons for the ever-expanding divide between the left and right (in D.C. and among "mainstream Americans") are many and varied, but Schoen maintains that a lack of trust in governmental efficacy--as fomented by the influence of big money and lobbyists--has led to the rise of populism on both ends of the spectrum, a process the author deems dangerously cyclical. Schoen also investigates various acts of legislation that motivated a shift to far-flung party politics, such as Obama's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which served (along with the Bush administration's Troubled Asset Relief Program) as fertile ground for the growth of the Tea Party. Rather than widening the gap or bridging the divide between the left and right, Schoen advocates systemic change; by examining the past and present, he lucidly shows what isn't working, and provides practical suggestions for improvement, as in campaign-finance and lobbyist reform, as well as redistricting.