Describing the political effects of Original Sin, Professor Budziszewski shows how man's suppression of his knowledge of right and wrong corrupts his conscience and accelerates social collapse. The depraved conscience grasps at the illusion of moral neutrality, the absurd notion that men live together without a shared understanding of how things are. After evaluating the political devices, including the American Constitution, by which men have tried in the past to work around the effects of Original Sin, Dr. Budziszewski elucidates the pitfalls of contemporary communitarianism, liberalism, and conservatism. ... methodical, accessible, and absorbing...a timely, invaluable educative book. -- Booklist A book to read alone and with others, and to give to those who have forgotten what they know. -- First Things A former nihilist, J. Budziszewski writes on conscience - its masks, its evasions, and its willful self-deceptions - better than anyone in our time. A book to read and reread. -- Mic