This compelling and thought-provoking essay collection tackles the urgent debate over character, virtue, and moral responsibility in American life, where renowned political scientist James Q. Wilson draws on decades of experience advising presidents on crime, drug abuse, and education to argue that empathy and self-control are the twin pillars of good character, exploring how these traits shape families, communities, schools, and public policy, and ultimately making the case for an inborn human moral sense that obligates us to one another in the pursuit of a just and orderly society.