Hugh Brogan’s giant new biography of Alexis de Tocqueville is a wonderfully consuming portrait of Tocqueville and his ideas. JOSEPH A. AMATO is Professor Emeritus of History at Southwest State University in Marshall, MN. $35.00.) Democracy in America has long been regarded as the most astute analysis of American society and political culture ever penned by a foreign visitor. Eduardo Nolla, trans. Died At Age: 53 Alexis de Tocqueville was a French diplomat, political scientist and historian who was known for his books on democracy. “I do not know if the people of the United States would vote for superior men if they ran for office, … Born a French aristocrat, he lost nearly his entire family in the Reign of Terror, and he spent most of his adult life struggling for liberty under the unsuccessful regimes of nineteenth-century France. Having written on Tocqueville, modern France, and the history of the United States for almost three decades, Hugh Brogan The United Way Tocqueville Society was formed in 1984 to deepen individual understanding of, commitment to, and support for United Way’s work in advancing the common good by creating opportunities for a better life for all. Tocqueville's life was marked by a triumph of character; Hugh Brogan's biography is a triumph of history and letters." Forty years later, when Alexis de Tocqueville was born, this noble way of life had largely been destroyed. Brogan, Hugh, Alexis de Tocqueville: A Life (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007). Born a French aristocrat, he lost nearly his entire family in the Reign of Terror, and he spent most of his adult life struggling for liberty under the unsuccessful regimes of nineteenth-century France. The work contains many interesting and singular insights about America: its regime, its laws, and, above all, the habits or mores of Americans, by which Tocqueville means the full panoply of their politic… But the amazing truth is the Alexis de Tocqueville was exactly the best qualified man to do exactly that. Olivier Zunz (New York: The Library of America, 2004). The Way We Were: Alexis de Tocqueville on Women and the Family | … Alexis de Tocqueville was the French author of Democracy in America (1835), perhaps the best, and certainly the most widely-quoted book ever written about the United States. Brogan Hugh, Alexis de Tocqueville and the Liberal Moment, 14(2) The Historical Journal 289-303 (June 1971). Edward T. Gargan, Alexis de Tocqueville: The Critical Years, 1848-1851 (1955), is an important study, and Gargan's De Tocqueville (1965) is a short introduction to Tocqueville's thought. Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America (1835, 1840), ed. Alexis de Tocqueville was a gentleman‐​scholar who emerged as one of the world’s great prophets. Tocqueville's life was marked by a triumph of character; Hugh Brogan's biography is a triumph of history and letters." The Economist selected this book as one of its 100 best for 2006. Alexis de Tocqueville was a French political theorist and historian who went to the U.S. to study the American political model and published the classic ‘Democracy in America’ in two volumes. At the heart of Alexis de Tocqueville’s thought lies the “restless mind”—a mind that sees the essence of humanity in the realization that each of us “dies alone” and that life is but a fleeting moment hedged in between the abysses of the pre-born and the dead. In most cases, the reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. Alexis-Charles-Henri Clérel de Tocqueville was born the youngest of three boys July 29, 1805, in Paris. Arthur Goldhammer, ed. The most famous visitor to the United States, Alexis de Tocqueville, praised the well-ordered home life of its citizens. Alexis de Tocqueville - Alexis de Tocqueville - Revolution of 1848: The Revolution of 1848 brought about a new political situation for France and for Tocqueville. Alexis de Tocqueville was one of the greatest political thinkers of all time. Its … He produced the book in two volumes -- the first, which came out in 1835 and the second, which came out in 1840 -- after taking a tour of the United States with his colleague and friend Gustave de Beaumont in 1831-32. By Hugh Brogan. Alexis de Tocqueville was one of the greatest political thinkers of all time. Pp. This information about Alexis de Tocqueville: A Life shown above was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. He was born in 1805 and died relatively young, of tuberculosis, in 1859. It follows a nine-month trip to America that Tocqueville made with Gustave de Beaumont in 1831 and 1832. His father’s family belonged to the ancient French nobility, whose duty and purpose in life was to fight for the king when ordered. Alexis de Tocqueville (1805­–1869), the great French diplomat, essayist and political thinker, did not live to see the age of identity politics, social media, grade inflation, concept creep, safetyism, the mental health crisis, mass rewritings of history and a public culture increasingly preoccupied with grievances, moral outrage, sanctified victimhood and bottom-up modes of censorship. Alexis de Tocqueville and his best friend, Gustave de Beaumont, traveled through the eastern United States, 1831-1832. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007. His mother was Louise-Madeleine Le Peletier Rosanbo… Democracy was achieved by such a long, arduous and heroic struggle that it can feel embarrassing – even shameful – to feel a little disappointed by it. This week Patrick and an esteemed team of philosophers, biographers and political experts discuss the life and intellectual legacy of Alexis de Tocqueville. It is not a travelogue or even a comprehensive study of the political institutions of the United States. One could not say today, as Tocqueville said in the 1830s, that all commerce and activity stops on Sunday or that everyone in American public life is obliged to … xii, 724. It was, even by the standards of modern transportation, an impressive journey. Tocqueville remains, however, an enjoyable and important writer. Biography Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859) was a French philosopher and statesman. Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) is perhaps best known among Americans as the author of the influential work, Democracy in America. He argued that the importance of the French Revolution was to continue the process of modernizing and centralizing the French state. 724 pp. Scholarly, intelligent, a precise writer, de Tocqueville was the one to write an immortal study of American life that would become in time a classic. The authoritative life for our time. He was unusual for his time in many ways. Alexis de Tocqueville: A Life Alexis de Tocqueville: A Life Kammen, Michael 2007-09-01 00:00:00 BOOK REVIEWS Alexis de Tocqueville: A Life. One way in which he stood out in nineteenth-century France was his … Alexis de Toqueville was an important theorist of democratic society. He was fascinated by the way people lived in democratic countries. Alexis Charles-Henri-Maurice Clérel, Viscount de Tocqueville (/ ˈ t oʊ k v ɪ l, ˈ t ɒ k-/; French: [alɛgzi də tɔkvil]; 29 July 1805 – 16 April 1859) was a French diplomat, political scientist and historian.He was best known for his works Democracy in America (appearing in two volumes, 1835 and 1840) and The Old Regime and the Revolution (1856). He is best known as the author of Democracy in America. His father Hervé-Louis-Francois-Jean-Bonaventure Clérel was a 33-year-old landed aristocrat descended from Norman nobles. "—Washington Post Book World Alexis de Tocqueville was one of the greatest political thinkers of all time. ALEXIS DE TOQUEVILLE SOCIETY. De la Démocratie en Amériquewas published in two tomes; the first coming out in 1835 and the next in 1840. The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with … Bryant, Clell, Tocqueville’s America, 36(4) Smithsonian 104-107 (July 2005). Alexis de Tocqueville’s four-volume Democracy in America (1835-1840) is commonly said to be among the greatest works of nineteenth-century political writing. Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America (1835, 1840), trans. The Old Regime and the French Revolution by Alexis de Tocqueville, Stuart Gilbert (Translator), … His works are regarded amongst the most influential texts produced on sociology and political science. Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859) was a French aristocrat and one of America’s very best friends, the special, rare kind that tells you the truth. Belonging to a Norman aristocratic family that traced its origins to the Battle of Hastings (1066), Tocqueville’s parents barely escaped the guillotine in the terror of the French Revolution. Alexis de Tocqueville - Articles from The School of Life, formally The Book of Life, a gathering of the best ideas around wisdom and emotional intelligence. 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