Will Hutton presents fundamental critique of contemporary capitalism. His concern is that capitalism has lost its way and forgotten the value of fairness it once stood for.
The title's hint of a class war is only a tease, as Them is the power elite and Us is simply everyone else. To Hutton, restoring the balance means moving away from the free-for-all of high finance and renewing the entrepreneurial spirit that drives innovation. With Hutton's prescriptions for breaking up the super-banks, imposing regulation and increasing consumer protection, his position separates him from the centre-right at most.
Hutton's thinking covers a range of ideas and knowledge from his assessment of philosophical arguments for fairness to technical details of the credit crunch. This fuels his tendency to stray into a wish-list manifesto of policies for reform in welfare, schools, media and government.
The book ends with his enthusiasm for the coalition government.