Tocqueville's America: The Great Quotations

by Alexis de Tocqueville

Book Overview

"...boldness of enterprise is the foremost cause of (America's) progress, its strength, and its greatness." With that succinct statement a young French aristocrat, Alexis de Tocqueville, expressed his perceptive analysis of the United States, following a nine-month tour of the young republic beginning in May of 1831. His remarkable two-volume study, Democracy in America , presented an insight that has withstood the test of time to the extent of being...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0821407538
• ISBN13: 9780821407530
• Release Date: August 1984
• Publisher: Ohio University Press
• Length: 119 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Raises Questions To Ponder

"Tocqueville's America: The Great Quotations" is a stimulating collecting of quotations from this renowned observer of, and commentator on the early American scene. Arranged topically, the reader is treated to a broad range of thought provoking ideas of what America was, served in the span of this relatively short book. Tocqueville shares his ideas on how Democracies and Aristocracies behave differently in the social, economic, political, religious and military spheres. Among the selections, I found the most thought provoking to be those which challenge the reader to think about whether the America of Tocqueville's day still exists, or have we become more like the Europe with which he contrasted us. Is the taste for intellectual pleasures still lacking in America, as compared to other countries? Do we still produce a large volume of low quality art, as compared to the small volume, high quality produced by others? Do we still have a broad, but shallow education? Is our country still decentralized? This book raises questions which we can ponder indefinitely. This is a book to read, reread and just peruse for the intellectual stimulation which only this sage of yore can provide.