This book is about the relationship between liberalism and socialism in Britain in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Preface; System of references; Prologue: original sin and the modern state; 1. The passion for improving mankind; 2. Good men fallen among Fabians; 3. Imperialism; 4. The State and the Nation; 5. Human nature in politics; 6. War; 7. Hobson's choice; 8. The bleak age; Epilogue: sans everything; Bibliographical notes; Appendix; Index.