This book is a search for missing pieces in the puzzle of the global rise of right-wing, nationalist ideologies. Rejecting the view that politics can be understood in terms of reason alone, Maya Mishra argues that to make sense of the space of politics today requires us to pay attention to the play of psychic energies. She draws parallels between the unconscious desires that animate love and sex, on the one hand, and the passions that are mobilised in politics, on the other. In doing so, she uncovers the largely unacknowledged and even disavowed fantasies that govern various aspects of our lives.

Through an exploration of the Indian experience, Mishra sheds light on some of the most perplexing aspects of our personal and political lives, such as falling in love with the "wrong" person, having the "wrong" sexual fantasies, and why ordinary people engage in violence and cast the "wrong" people – the victims – as the villains of their ideological narrative.

Written as an engaging narrative, this book draws on psychoanalytic concepts and applies them to everyday realities, demonstrating their value for understanding the growing appeal of the binary politics of "us" vs. "them" across the world. It is a book written for everyone who has felt troubled by the bewildering and brutal realities of our times.

Maya Mishra is a feminist researcher, educator and writer of Indian origin who uses psychoanalysis to push the boundaries of thinking on sexuality and politics.