Heard presents civilisation as the result not simply of force, self-interest or material progress, but of changing forms of human awareness and social cohesion. Beginning with evolution and prehistory, he argues that humanity developed through heightened sensitivity rather than aggression alone. He then traces the formation of early civilisations, examining religion, ritual, war and political organisation as responses to psychological as well as economic pressures.

The book follows this argument through ancient India, China, the Mediterranean world, Christianity and the development of modern Europe. Heard maintains that technical and rational advances have outpaced the cultivation of the inner life, producing an imbalance between physical power and psychological maturity. He concludes that civilisation requires deliberate methods of psychological development if social order is to remain viable. The work combines historical, sociological and philosophical interpretation, and many of its evolutionary and cultural arguments reflect theories and assumptions current in the 1930s.