economic order, epitomizing democratic capitalism. Liberal democracy is now less rivaled than at any time in our century. But the third great sphere that makes up the American republic’s tripartite order—the moral and cultural sphere—is in deep trouble. At the very moment of her historic political and economic vindication, a crisis of cultural authority is sapping the very vitality of the United States. Americans are no longer shaped by beliefs, ideals, and traditions as they once were. It is now