In 1831 Alexis de Tocqueville, a young Frnech 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 weakensses of the nation's evolving politics. Tocqueville looked to the flourishing democratic system in American as a possible model for post-revolutionary France, believing its egalitarian ideals reflected the spirit of the age - 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 new edition of Tocqueville's classic has been lauded in all quarters as the finest and most definitive edition available, and with good reason - the editor's astonishing efforts not only capture the elegance, subtlety, and profundity of Tocqueville's original, but also offer proof of how very essential this masterpiece continues to be.