Focusing on domestic issues, the book discusses technological change, automation, job displacement, the U.S. economy, and what Yang describes as the need for a universal basic income (UBI).

[6] He cites civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., former U.S. president Richard Nixon, and economist Milton Friedman as early supporters of a UBI.

Yang argued that "as technology continues to make many jobs obsolete, the government must take concrete steps to ensure economic stability for residents of the United States," including the provision of a UBI, which was one of three central policies of his 2020 campaign.

[10][11] Yang has discussed the book and its contents in numerous interviews, including Merion West,[9] Recode Decode with Kara Swisher,[5] and The Ben Shapiro Show.

Author and businesswoman Arianna Huffington gave the book a positive review, calling it "both a clear-eyed look at the depths of our social and economic problems and an innovative roadmap toward a better future."

Author Alec Ross wrote: "In this powerful book, Andrew Yang highlights the urgent need to rewrite America's social contract.

[3] Writing for The New York Times, American economist Robert Reich reviewed both Yang's book and Annie Lowrey's Give People Money, calling them "useful primers on the case for a [UBI]".

[8] Andy Kroll of Rolling Stone wrote that Yang's book "lays out his views in greater detail but raises as many questions as it answers", and that it "places him firmly in the camp of those who believe economic anxiety played a decisive role in Trump's election and the rise of white nationalism".