May's central thesis is that to understand the political polarization of contemporary America then we must understand that two major events set the nation on its current path: the first was the breeding of a culture of fear that emerged as a result of the Cold War and the second was the government's unwillingness to provide for the public good via safety and public services. These two events as she shows with historical evidence using statistics, polls, newspapers and governmental policies from 1945 to the present ensured that Americans would fear everything and everyone and seek to solve problems on their own rather than relying on the government.