The Making of Tocqueville's Democracy in America
By: by James T. Schleifer.
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
Published: 1980
Place of publication: Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States of America
Language: eng
Number of pages: 387
ISBN-13: 9780807813720
Subjects: Tocqueville, Alexis de, 1805-1859
Description: It is impossible to fully understand the American experience apart from Alexis de Tocqueville's *Democracy in America*. Moreover, it is impossible fully to appreciate Tocqueville by assuming that he brought to his visitation to America, or to the writing of his great work, a fixed philosophical doctrine. James T. Schleifer documents where, when, and under what influences Tocqueville wrote different sections of his work. In doing so, Schleifer discloses the mental processes through which Tocqueville passed in reflecting on his experiences in America and transforming these reflections into the most original and revealing book ever written about Americans. For the first time the evolution of a number of Tocqueville's central themes —democracy, individualism, centralisation, despotism— emerges into clear relief.
Notes: Bibliography: p. [349]-362.
Includes index.