The author argues that we are failing to prepare today's young people to be responsible American citizens—to the detriment of their life prospects and those of liberty in the United States of the future. He identifies the problems—the declines in civic purpose and patriotism, crises of faith, cynicism, self-absorption, ignorance, indifference to the common good—and shows that our disregard of civic and moral virtue as an educational priority is having a tangible effect on the attitudes, understanding, and behavior of large portions of the youth in our country today.