Thirty years ago, Ronald Reagan rode a wave of patriotism to the White House by calling for a return to what he considered to be traditional American values―personal liberty, free markets, and limited government. After the cultural struggles and generational clashes of the 1960s and 70s, it appeared that many Americans were eager to abide by Reagan's set of core American principles. Yet, despite Reagan's continuing popularity, modern America remains widely perceived as a nation weakened by its divisions. While debates over cultural values have been common throughout the country's history, they seem particularly vitriolic today. Some argue that these differences have resulted in a perpetually gridlocked government caught between left and right, red states and blue. Since the American Founding, commonly shared cultural values have been considered to be the glue that would bind the nation's citizens together. However, how do we identify, define and interpret the foundations of American culture in a profoundly divided, pluralistic country? In American Culture in Peril, Charles W. Dunn assembles top scholars and public intellectuals to examine Reagan's impact on American culture in the twenty-first century. The contributors assess topics vital to our conversations about American culture and society, including changing views of the family, the impact of popular culture, and the evolving relationship between religion, communities, and the state. Others investigate modern liberalism and the possibilities of reclaiming a renewed conservatism today. American Culture in Peril illuminates Reagan's powerful legacy and investigates whether his traditional view of American culture can successfully compete in postmodern America. Contributors Hadley Arkes Paul A. Cantor Allan Carlson Jean Bethke Elshtain Charles R. Kesler Wilfred M. McClay Ken Myers Hadley Arkes is the Edward N. Ney Professor of American Institutions at Amherst College, where he has taught since 1966. Among his books are The Philosopher in the City, First Things, Beyond the Constitution and Natural Rights & the Right to Choose. His most recent book is Constitutional Illusions & Anchoring Truths: The Touchstone of the Natural Law. He has written for the Wall Street Journal , Commentary, National Review, First Things (the journal), The Claremont Review, and he writes a regular column for the web journal The Catholic Thing. Arkes has been a fellow of the Wilson Center of the Smithsonian, the visiting Leavey professor at Georgetown, a visiting professor of public affairs in the Woodrow Wilson School, and the Vaughan fellow in the Madison Program at Princeton University. His B.A. is from the University of Illinois and his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. Paul Cantor is the Clifton Waller Barrett Professor of English at the University of Virginia. His books include Shakespeare's Rome: Republic and Empire (Cornell), Creature and Creator: Myth-Making and English Romanticism (Cambridge University), Shakespeare: Hamlet (Cambridge University), Gilligan Unbound: Pop Culture in the Age of Globalization (Rowman and Littlefield) and Literature and the Economics of Liberty: Spontaneous Order in Culture (Open Court). His writings have appeared in the Weekly Standard, Reason, and the Claremont Review of Books. He received the Ludwig von Mises Prize for Scholarship in Austrian School Economics and served on the National Council on the Humanities from 1992-99. He holds an A.B. and Ph.D. from Harvard University. Allan Carlson is President of the Howard Center for Family, Religion & Society and Distinguished Visiting Professor of Political Science and History at Hillsdale College. His books include Family Questions: Reflections on the American Social Crisis (Transaction Publishers), The 'American Way': Family and Community in the Shaping of the American Identity (ISI Books), and Conjugal America: On the Public Purposes of Marriage (Transaction Publishers). President Ronald Reagan appointed him to the National Commission on Children, where he served from 1988 to 1993. His interview appearances include PBS News Hour, NPR's Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Talk of the Nation, Voice of America, ABC, CBS, and NBC News, MSNBC, CBN, CNN, C-SPAN, Australian, Czech and Polish TV, eight special PBS productions on family issues, and over 400 regional radio and television outlets. He holds an A.B. from Augustana College and a Ph.D. from Ohio State University. Jean Bethke Elshtain is the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Professor at the University of Chicago and the Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Chair in the Foundations of American Freedom at Georgetown University. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and she has served on the Boards of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, and the National Humanities Center. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and has received nine honorary degrees. In 2002, Elshtain received the Frank J. Goodnow a