"Un pueblo antiguo, el primero y legítimo dueño del continente americano, se deshace día a día como la nieve bajo los rayos del sol y, a la vista de todos, desaparece de la faz de la tierra. En sus propias tierras, y usurpando su lugar, otra raza se desarrolla con rapidez aun mayor; arrasa los bosques y seca los pantanos; lagos grandes como mares y ríos inmensos se oponen vanamente a su marcha triunfal." Tocqueville relata en estas páginas...

In 1831, the then twenty-seven year old Alexis de Tocqueville, was sent with Gustave de Beaumont to America by the French Government to study and make a report on the American prison system. Over a period of nine months the two traveled all over America making notes not only on the prison systems but on all aspects of American society and government. From these notes Tocqueville wrote "Democracy in America", an exhaustive analysis of the successes...

One of the most important books ever written about the French Revolution, this treatise is the work of a celebrated political thinker and historian. Alexis de Tocqueville reveals the rebellion's origins and consequences by examining France's political and cultural environment during the late eighteenth century. His view of the revolution as part of a gradual and ongoing social process, rather than a sudden occurrence, offers timeless insights into...

In 1831, the then twenty-seven year old Alexis de Tocqueville, was sent with Gustave de Beaumont to America by the French Government to study and make a report on the American prison system. Over a period of nine months the two traveled all over America making notes not only on the prison systems but on all aspects of American society and government. From these notes Tocqueville wrote "Democracy in America", an exhaustive analysis of the successes...

Written nearly 170 years ago, Democracy in America is a masterful display of insight and foresight into all things American. Doubting whether the American experiment in equality could work, Tocqueville conjectured that democracy would erect a society that would succumb to a different type of tyranny than that of a monarchy or aristocracy-that of the majority. Through detailed interviews with "the most informed men" he could meet, he offers an examination...

First published in French in 1856, French diplomat and political scientist Alexis de Tocqueville's "The Old Regime and the French Revolution" is one of the most influential treatises written on the French Revolution. Tocqueville begins by tracing the causes of the French Revolution to the structure of society of France prior to the Revolution, what he terms the "Ancien Regime". Tocqueville rejected the notion that the Revolution was a radical transformation...

In 1831 French aristocrat Alexis de Tocqueville came to the United States to investigate its prison system. America was then a nation of 13 million people populating 24 states, with a largely unsettled territorial claim stretching westward to the Pacific. Seriously distracted from his original mission, the 25-year-old Tocqueville ended up writing about America's people, culture, history, geography, politics, legal system, and economy in ways so insightful...

"Over one hundred and fifty years ago, Alexis de Tocqueville, a young French nobleman and an astute political scientist, came to the United States to evaluate the meaning and actual functioning of democracy. Democracy in America is the classic treatise on the American way of life that he wrote as a result of his visit." "Tocqueville discusses the advantages and dangers of the majority rule -- which he thought could be as tyrannical as the rule of...

An influential study of America's national government, egalitarian ideals, and character offers reflections on the effect of majority rule on the rights of individuals and provides insight into the rewards and responsibilities of a democratic government.