This new book from Brian Coman critically examines a number of modern shibboleths, chief among them being the idea of progress as a permanent condition of the modern West. Closely allied to the idea of progress is the notion of science as salvation, and of human nature as an infinitely flexible entity, wholly amenable to manipulation by the various 'therapies' of our age. Combined with a liberalism which stresses individualism, the whole 'spirit of the age' makes war on the traditional notion of the human in society.