"Lucien Jaume argues in this acclaimed intellectual biography, Democracy in America is best understood as a French book. For Tocqueville, America was a mirror for France, a way for Tocqueville to write indirectly about his own society, to engage French thinkers and debates, and to come to terms with France's aristocratic legacy."--

Retraces Alexis de Tocqueville's nine-month journey through a young United States in 1831 and 1832, during which he was impressed by America's dynamic society, but was convinced that slavery would lead to civil war.

Professor Cook examines Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America and probes his thoughts on the young nation he was observing. He examines Tocqueville's thoughts about "classical" issues such as the nature of the judiciary and the role of freedom of the press. He considers the often-ignored passages about the three races (white, African, and Native American), as well as what Tocqueville says about the importance of women in American democracy....

"Most folks probably don't learn about Alexis de Tocqueville in school anymore, but his seminal work, Democracy in America, is still surprisingly resonant. When he came to America in 1831 to study our great political experiment, he reported that the main issues were: religion, money, sex, death, love, gender inequality, work and politics. Clearly, we haven't come as far as one might hope. But it wasn't all doom and gloom. De Tocqueville not only cataloged...

What does it mean to be an American, and what can America be today? Philosopher-journalist Levy spent a year traveling in the footsteps of Alexis de Tocqueville. The result is a fresh look at a country we sometimes only think we know. From Rikers Island to Chicago mega-churches, from Muslim communities in Detroit to an Amish enclave in Iowa, Levy investigates issues at the heart of our democracy: the nature of American patriotism, the coexistence...