That's my chief takeaway from "Shattered Consensus,"[1] a meticulously argued analysis of the growing disorder. Author James Piereson persuasively makes the case there is an inevitable "revolution" coming because our politics, culture, education, economics and even philanthropy are so polarized that the country can no longer resolve its differences.

To my knowledge, no current book makes more sense about the great unraveling we see in each day's headlines. Piereson captures and explains the alienation arising from the sense that something important in American life is ending, but that nothing better has emerged to replace it.

The impact is not restricted by our borders. Growing global conflict is related to America's failure to agree on how we should govern ourselves and relate to the world.

Piereson describes the endgame this way: "The problems will mount to a point of crisis where either they will be addressed through a 'fourth revolution' or the polity will begin to disintegrate for lack of fundamental agreement."