Alexis De Tocqueville Democracy In America Loa 147

An exclusive new translation of the most perceptive and influential book ever written about American politics and society—“the bible on democracy” (The Texas Observer) This Library of America volume presents de Tocqueville’s masterpiece in an entirely new translation—the first to fully capture his style and provide a rigorous, faithful rendering of his profound ideas and observations Alexis de Tocqueville, a young aristocratic French lawyer, came to the United States in 1831 to study its penitentiary systems. His nine-month visit and subsequent reading and reflection resulted in this landmark masterpiece of political observation and analysis. In Democracy in America, Tocqueville vividly describes the unprecedented social equality he found in America and explores its implications for European society in the emerging modern era. His book provides enduring insight into the political consequences of widespread property ownership, the potential dangers to liberty inherent in majority rule, the vital role of religion in American life, and the importance of civil institutions in an individualistic culture dominated by the pursuit of material self-interest. He also probes the deep differences between the free and slave states, writing prophetically of racism, bigotry, and prejudice in the United States. Brought to life by Arthur Goldhammer’s clear, fluid, and vigorous translation, this volume of Democracy in America is the first to fully capture Tocqueville’s achievements both as an accomplished literary stylist and as a profound political thinker.

French thinker Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America has for years been a classic for American political studies. The expansive 2-volume original is here provided in a new abridgement for students, giving an accessible yet complete picture of Tocqueville’s thought. With a new introduction by editor John D. Wilsey, this volume opens a clear window into American political, cultural, and religious history.

One of the most influential political texts ever written on America, and an indispensable authority on the nature of democracy In 1831 Alexis de Tocqueville, a young French aristocrat and civil servant, made a nine-month journey through eastern America. The result was Democracy in America, a monumental study of the strengths and weaknesses of the nation's evolving politics. Tocqueville looked to the flourishing democratic system in America as a possible model for post-revolutionary France, believing its egalitarian ideals reflected the spirit of the age. This edition, the only one that contains all Tocqueville's writings on America, includes the rarely translated 'Two Weeks in the Wilderness', an evocative account of Tocqueville's travels among the Iroquois and Chippeway, and 'Excursion to Lake Oneida'. Translated by Gerald Bevan with an Introduction and Notes by Isaac Kramnick

Democracy in America was published in two parts. In 1831 the French government sent Tocqueville, then a 35 year old aristocrat and statesman, on a mission to report on the US prison system. During his nine month trip however, he and his buddy Gustave de Beaumont recorded much more: the budding nation's economic and political system, and its social, cultural and religious systems during a the tumultuous Jacksonian political era. The central focus of Democracy in America is the study of the nature of representative democracy - why it had succeeded in the US and failed throughout Europe. With no punches pulled, Tocqueville also does a solid job of predicting where democracy was headed in the US, including the the dangers of democracy - "tyranny of the majority" - as well as the threats to democracy such as the divisive nature of slavery, and a future rivalry with Russia.

Democracy in America is a classic French text by Alexis de Tocqueville. A "literal" translation of its title is Of Democracy in America, but the usual translation of the title is simply Democracy in America. In the book, Tocqueville examines the democratic revolution that he believed had been occurring over the past seven-hundred years.

Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-59) came to America in 1831 to see what a great republic was like. What struck him most was the country's equality of conditions, its "democracy." The book he wrote on his return to France, "Democracy in America," is both the best ever written on democracy and the best ever written on America. It remains the most often quoted book about the United States, not only because it has something to interest and please everyone, but also because it has something to teach everyone. When it was published in 2000, Harvey Mansfield and Delba Winthrop's new translation of "Democracy in America"--only the third since the original two-volume work was published in 1835 and 1840--was lauded in all quarters as the finest and most definitive edition of Tocqueville's classic thus far. Mansfield and Winthrop have restored the nuances of Tocqueville's language, with the expressed goal "to convey Tocqueville's thought as he held it rather than to restate it in comparable terms of today." The result is a translation with minimal interpretation, but with impeccable annotations of unfamiliar references and a masterful introduction placing the work and its author in the broader contexts of political philosophy and statesmanship.

Democracy in America is arguably the most perceptive and influential book ever written about American politics and society. Authored by Alexis de Tocqueville, a French diplomat, political scientist and historian, it is regarded as a classical account of the democratic system of the United States and has been used as an important reference ever since. Written in the 1830s, De Tocqueville saw the young nation in its infancy and yet his insights into American life and government remain surprisingly current.