Writing for The New York Times, Jennifer Szalai called the book's advice "well-meaning but insufficient", although she also commented that given the scenarios Walter describes, this might be understandable; she thought that several pieces of guidance the book gave, such as "The U.S. government shouldn't indulge extremists", were rather obvious.[1] She also referred to the future civil war scene as "fear-mongering", but said that if Walter is correctly analyzing and interpreting the circumstances today, the scene might be a responsible warning. Szalai commented that the rating scale gave Walter a rational way to justify "blunt conclusions", such as the idea that "the Republican Party is behaving like a predatory faction".[2]