What do loving relationships, shared knowledge, innovative companies and legitimate governments have in common? They all flourish with trust and wither without. Against the astonishing scope of trust's influence in our societies we find statistics showing that trust has been dramatically declining in recent decades – a trend readily confirmed by real life events. This is the troubling starting point the book seeks to address. Through exploring the topic of trust the book provides novel perspectives on how to heal the internal divisions in the west, and more profoundly, shows how it is trust that defines successful societies in general.