The Tocqueville Reader: A Life in Letters and Politics

Alexis de Tocqueville was one of the most influential political thinkers of the 19 th century, and yet this is the first comprehensive collection of his written work. Born to an aristocratic family, he was consumed by the notion of democracy and traveled widely throughout the world, mainly in America, to understand it. He is the celebrated writer of Democracy in America and The Old Regime and the Revolution , as well as important essays on such subjects as poverty, colonialism, and socialism. The Tocqueville Reader includes not only his major writing but also travel notes, letters, conversations with ministers and politicians, and diary entries not originally intended for the public. The book includes twenty–nine pieces never before translated into English, and a wide–ranging editorial introduction that gives an account of Tocqueville′s life as a politician and inspirations as a writer. In this one–of–a–kind collection, students of American and European history and social thought, as well as general readers, will find a portrait of a fascinating personality and a giant of liberal thinking.

Introduction. Chronology. Part I: The Discovery of Democracy in America :. Preliminary Note. Illustration: Map of the American Voyage. 1. Travel Letters: First Impressions of America and Important Sketches of Democracy in America , 1831. 2. Excerpts from American Notebooks: Tocqueville′s Conversations with His American Informants; Travel Impressions on the Road. 3. Volume One of Democracy in America , 1835. Part II: Great Britain, France, and the United States:. Preliminary Note. 4. Discovery of England, Poverty, Pauperism, and Social Policy, 1835–1837. 5. Ambitions, Marriage, and Tocqueville′s Views of His Own Brand of Liberalism, 1833–1840. 6. Volume Two of Democracy in America. Part III: The Years in Politics:. Preliminary Note. 7. Tocqueville′s Political Philosophy. 8. Tocqueville the Colonialist. 9. Tocqueville in 1848. 10. Tocqueville Retires from Political Life and Returns to Writing. Part IV: The Return to The Old Regime and the Revolution:. Preliminary Note. 11. The Old Regime and the Revolution Volume One. 12. The Old Regime and the Revolution Volume Two. 13. Last days. Suggestions for Further Reading. Note on Sources and Translations. About the Editors.

Olivier Zunz is Commonwealth Professor of History at the University of Virginia and president of the Tocqueville Society. He is the author of The Changing Face of Inequality (1982), Making America Corporate (1990), and Why the American Century? (1998). He is also the editor of Reliving the Past (1985), and co–editor of The Landscape of Modernity (1992) and Social Contracts under Stress (2002). Alan S. Kahan is Associate Professor of History at Florida International University. He is the author of Aristocratic Liberalism, The Social and Political Thought of Jacob Burckhardt, John Stuart Mill, and Alexis de Tocqueville (1992, 2001), and the translator of Tocqueville′s The Old Regime and the Revolution (vol. 1: 1998, vol. 2: 2001).

“This fine volume should become the standard source of Tocqueville′s writings in the Anglophone world. Now that ideologues are trying to highjack Tocqueville for their own partisan purposes, it is particularly valuable to have this splendid collection that reflects the depth of Tocqueville′s insights into democracy, liberty, and the delicate balance between them on both sides of the Atlantic. By including the best of Tocqueville′s work on a wide range of topics and providing lucid commentary, Zunz and Kahan offer readers an accurate, historically grounded understanding of one of the 19th century′s most brilliant thinkers.” James T. Kloppenberg, Harvard University “A collection like this has been needed for a long time. It is accessible, broad–ranging, ably translated and superbly edited. Anyone who appreciates the genius of this greatest of French political writers will find it both a handy reference, and a source of delightful surprises.” David A. Bell, The Johns Hopkins University "Highly Recommended. General readers, and lower–division undergraduates and above." P.Coby, Smith College "The Tocqueville Reader... is a splendid selection from Tocqueville′s works that reflects the originality and depth of his ideas on democracy, liberty and modern society" Aurelian Craiutu, Indiana University