How Americans describe their guiding principles in an exhilarating and unnerving new era of moral freedom. What is the difference between right and wrong? What does it mean to lead a good life? How binding is the marriage vow? What are your obligations to an employer? To your friends? To yourself? Is it always immoral to tell a lie? Eminent sociologist and public intellectual Alan Wolfe asked Americans around the country such questions in order to determine how we really think about morality today. Wolfe discovered that while values have changed, they are far from absent. Americans of all stripesfrom the most radical to the most traditionalwant to lead a good life, but in almost every case they are determined to decide for themselves what a good life means. Focusing on traditional virtues of loyalty, honesty, self-restraint, and forgiveness, Moral Freedom reveals the complexities of living in a society where rather than simply accepting strict conventions, each individual struggles to forge a moral life.

Varieties of moral experience -- Til circumstances do us part -- Eat dessert first -- Honesty, to a point -- The unappreciated virtue -- The moral philosophy of the Americans -- The strange idea of moral freedom.