It's a rant, but one I enjoyed. The author is a college professor who sees experts and expert knowledge under attack by various forces such as:

• The nature of American rugged individualism, making those who want to be self-reliant wary of relying on the expertise of others
• Ever-improving marketing tactics that convince people that "the customer is always right", leading to "snowflakes" who cannot deal with being told they are wrong.
• Populist leaders who exploit people's paranoia and turn them against all authority figures (except the populist leader, of course, who is their hero and defender!)
• The "everyone gets a trophy" mentality that leads to the mistaken idea that, because everyone has equal rights under the law, somehow everyone's opinion or skills are equally useful.
• The Internet, which alters people's brains to believe they know more than they do, and to think of themselves as experts because of "research" that consists of looking stuff up on Google, or putting their trust in blogs and videos that give them opinions they already agree with.
• Poor decisions by experts themselves, who are tempted to speak outside their area of expertise, or to predict things they cannot reasonably predict, in order to be in the spotlight and make more money.

The author does admit that there have been times when people have been too trusting of experts and obedient to authority, such as the mid-twentieth century, but insists that things have gone too far in the other direction. At times I think he leans a little too far into dismissing people with legitimate gripes against corrupt authorities and systemic problems. Also his style is grumpy and hyperbolic (including the alarmist title), which probably helps sell the book.

Still, it's an engaging book, and I appreciate the author's plea to put experience and knowledge over gut reactions, curiosity over insularity, probability over certainty, and humility over bravado.