How Civil Wars Start: And How to Stop Them

A leading political scientist examines the dramatic rise in violent extremism around the globe and sounds the alarm on the increasing likelihood of a second civil war in the United States "An imperative book for our time."--Ibram X. Kendi, author of How to Be an Antiracist "When one of the world's leading scholars of civil war tells us that the United States stands at the brink of violent conflict, we should pay attention."--Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, authors of How Democracies Die Political violence rips apart several towns in southwest Texas. A far-right militia plots to kidnap the governor of Michigan and try her for treason. An armed mob of Trump supporters and conspiracy theorists storms the U.S. Capitol. Are these isolated incidents? Or is this the start of something bigger? Barbara F. Walter has spent her career studying civil conflict in places like Iraq and Sri Lanka, but now she has become increasingly worried about her own country. Perhaps surprisingly, both autocra