Democracy in America

Rating:
Summary: DECENT ASSESSMENT
Review: THIS BOOK IS A PERSPECTIVE FROM THE OUTSIDE, IN OF THE AMERICAN SYSTEM OF DEMOCRACY. GIVEN BY A MAN WHO HAS SEEN REVOLUTIONS LEAD TO TERROR AND MAYHEM. ALL-IN-ALL IT WAS VERY GOOD... YET NOT EXACTLY EXCITING.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent presentation on the books, his life and times.
Review: This is actually a presentation on de Tocqueville's life and times, centered on a general analysis of Democracy in America, but including much background on his family's history, his political career and accomplishments and a look at the historical context of France, Europe and the US in the mid 19th Century. The themes of DiA are reviewed with many quotes from the book and from commentaries by de Tocqueville's contemporaries. He is presented in all his glory: his hits (the brilliant insights into social character, the nature of democracy and his devastatingly astute, timeless analysis of our American identity) and his misses (his advocacy of war and his surprisingly traditionalist views of society's class structure). An occasional cheesy French accent in some of the characterizations is the only flaw. This is a _great_ commute tape, I look forward to "reading" more in this series on other great writers!

Rating:
Summary: One of the best novels of the 19th century
Review: This is one of the best novels of the 19th century. Most people do not recognize the significance of this book, however its relevance to modern literature cannot be emphasized more. Ironically, this book has apparently
gained quite a following among political scientists, historians, and pediatric endocrinologists, however this is only because of a misinterpretation. Many believe De Tocqueville to have been what he claims to have been, a gentleman, statesman, diplomat, and liaision for France to the United States. De Tocqueville was none of the above, in fact he was a petty criminal from Marseille who was arrested in 1832 for stealing horseshoes from a prominent businessman's steed. While in jail he was mixed up with political prisoners from a recent revolt and sent to Martinique to serve a sentance of 5 years hard labor. Unfortunately, De Tocqueville had a hot temper and allegedly killed an Arawak Indian in a fight, and being that this was the last known Arawak Indian on the island was sentanced to life in prison. It was here that he met a young Victor Hugo, a criminal justice student studying colonial jail system and theory, who De Tocqueville befriended. Hugo taught him to write, which Alexis did to pass the time and to allay his growing madness. Upon his death, guards found thousands of pages of text stuffed under his soiled mattress, some of which we now know to be Democracy In America. It was part of a larger epic about a French diplomat named Arnaud Venilas who wrote political treatises and sold them to British merchants to feed his opium addiction.
I wholeheartedly disagree with the modern interpretation of this work and hope that eventually this mini story will be put back into the Venilas context as De Tocqueville had originally intended.

Rating:
Summary: An accurate prophecy...and a powerful warning
Review: Toquevilles' Democracy in America, written over a century and a half ago, is almost as relevant today as when it first appeared in print. Outside of the Federalist Papers, no book is as essential to a American student of political philosophy as this. This book is neither a manifesto of the right or left - both sides can draw powerful arguments (and lessons) from this work. Paramount to the book are the conflicts between equality and liberty, which today remains the core difference between the major political parties. Toqueville also predicted the rise of America and Russia, as well as the growth of the central government - a hundred years before it became reality. His praise of the American system of decentralized, voluntary associations is also dead on. A wonderful book.

Rating:
Summary: The changes in democracy
Review: well this book to me seem to talk about how are system flows and the times have completly changed over the pass years. The author Tocqueville was very inspiring and very cunning in the ways he gather knowledge on this great nation I was very fascinated to read the words and see the fact and read the opinion of this very brilliant author. The book shows what pass democracy look like and showed what path he expected it to go. The times were he compares the government with the rest of other nations show how here we have organization and structure. How all the power is not under one rule but split with in different parts no one man is contrrolling everything. Well I am very impress with the book it shows and gives true meaning.

Rating:
Summary: The changes in democracy
Review: well this book to me seem to talk about how are system flows and the times have completly changed over the pass years. The author Tocqueville was very inspiring and very cunning in the ways he gather knowledge on this great nation I was very fascinated to read the words and see the fact and read the opinion of this very brilliant author. The book shows what pass democracy look like and showed what path he expected it to go. The times were he compares the government with the rest of other nations show how here we have organization and structure. How all the power is not under one rule but split with in different parts no one man is contrrolling everything. Well I am very impress with the book it shows and gives true meaning.

Rating:
Summary: timeless reference
Review: While American democracy has changed significantly over the past couple centuries since de Toqueville wrote this, his chapters on citizenship and governance are still a must-read for anyone interested in the workings of democratic government. His insight was exceptional, so like Shakespeare, much of this work is a timeless analysis of human nature.