Democracy in America: And Two Essays on America

Penguin Books Limited, Apr 24, 2003 - History - 935 pages

'A new political science is needed for a totally new world’

In 1831 Alexis de Tocqueville, a young French aristocrat and ambitious civil servant, made a nine-month journey throughout America. The result was Democracy in America, a monumental study of the strengths and weaknesses of the nation’s evolving politics and institutions. Tocqueville looked to the flourishing democratic system in America as a possible model for post-revolutionary France, believing that the egalitarian ideals it enshrined reflected the spirit of the age and even that they were the will of God. His insightful work has become one of the most influential political texts ever written on America and an indispensable authority for anyone interested in the future of democracy. This volume includes the rarely translated Two Weeks in the Wilderness, an evocative account of Tocqueville’s travels in Michigan among the Iroquois and Chippeway, and The Excursion to Lake Onéida.

This is the only edition that contains all Tocqueville’s writings on America, and includes a chronology, further reading and explanatory notes. Gerald Bevan’s translation is accompanied by an introduction by Isaac Kramnick, which discusses Tocqueville’s life and times, and the enduring significance of Democracy in America.

What people are saying

Review: Democracy in America

User Review  - Charlotte - Goodreads

I only read the abridged version. According to David Barton, this version cut out religious references.

Review: Democracy in America

User Review  - Jim Savage - Goodreads

Bottom-up political/sociological profile of 1830s west of the Appalachians was just that; no more, no less.

About the author

Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) was a French sociologist and historian. He was active in law and politics, serving for a time as foreign minister and wrote L'Ancien Régime, a social and political study of pre-revolutionary France.

Isaac Kramnick is professor of government at Cornell and edited several volumes in the Penguin Classics, including The Federalist Papers.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Democracy in America: And Two Essays on America; Penguin Classics
• Translated by: Alexis Tocqueville, Gerald Bevan
• Contributor: Isaac Kramnick
• Edition: reprint
• Publisher: Penguin Books Limited, 2003
• ISBN: 0140447601, 9780140447606
• Length: 935 pages
• Subjects: History / Americas (North, Central, South, West Indies); History / Modern / General; History / United States / 19th Century; Literary Collections / Essays; Political Science / American Government / General; Political Science / General; Political Science / History & Theory; Political Science / Political Ideologies / Democracy