Book excerpt: The Augustinian Imperative, which insists there is `an intrinsic moral order susceptible to authoritative representation', is particularly imprinted on the political culture of contemporary America. In this new interpretation of one of the most important figures in political thought, the author approaches the study of the Augustinian Imperative from a critical distance, from a (post) Nietzschean perspective that seeks to assess and modify effects of the Augustinian legacy on the present.