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World » Americas » United States » Best Books for July 4th/Independence Day

Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville
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Democracy in America

by Alexis de Tocqueville

“Among the new objects that attracted my attention during my stay in the United States, none struck my eye more vividly than the equality of conditions. I discovered without difficulty the enormous influence that this primary fact exerts on the course of society; it gives a certain direction to public spirit, a certain turn to the laws, new maxims to those who govern and particular habits to the governed.”

—Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America (Harvey Mansfield and Delba Winthrop translation), opening paragraph.

Recommendations from our site

“Tocqueville, in a way, was the first sociologist, though that field didn’t exist in the 1830s, when he wrote the book. In it, he looks at the formal institutions of American democracy—Congress, and the presidency, and so forth—but what everybody really takes away from it is that those institutions ride on top of the morals and mores and habits of the underlying society…Tocqueville gives you a different analysis that looks beneath the surface of the visible institutions and tries to understand the moral habits that underlie the workings of those institutions. It’s really looking at the society rather than just the formal laws and whatnot.” Read more...

The best books on Liberal Democracy

Francis Fukuyama, Political Scientist

“It’s a masterpiece of sociological and political analysis. Tocqueville’s work still helps us understand America, 170 years after he wrote it.” Read more...

Stephen Breyer on his Intellectual Influences

Stephen Breyer, US Supreme Court Justice

“Tocqueville was seized by the sharp contrast between Paris and America, where people did not wait for the central government, but went ahead on their own, and I think that’s vital part of what it is to be both an American and a vital part of what is America.” Read more...

The best books on Compassionate Conservatism

Karl Rove, Political Commentator

“Tocqueville was not only a brilliant sociologist but he also saw the connections between American society and the budding capitalism of the 1830s.” Read more...

The best books on Saving Capitalism and Democracy

Robert Reich, Economist

“It lays out how ideas are translated into political institutions, and even more so into mores and habits and practices of everyday life.” Read more...

The best books on Freedom Isn’t Enough

Yuval Levin, Political Commentator

Other books by Alexis de Tocqueville

The Ancien Régime and the Revolution by Alexis de Tocqueville

The Ancien Régime and the Revolution
by Alexis de Tocqueville

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