Interpreting Tocqueville's Democracy in America, ed. Ken Masugi.  (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 1991)

Excerpt:

Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-59) is so frequently quoted that his readers may not probe beneath the enticing surface Democracy in America presents.  Many would remain content with pickin and choosing from his text, reading him as others do Montaigne or Nietzsche, for aphoristic insights into modern life.  Thus Tocqueville remains an inexhaustible resource for journalists and other popularizers, who use his marvelous insights to add the weight of authority to their opinions.  Such a familiarity with Tocqueville led New York Times‘ columnist Russell Baker to satirize college students quoting Tocqueville to their advantage–fawned on by intimidated professors who had not read the primary source!  The essays in this book prepare their readers to approach Tocqueville’s text more deeply by seeking to destroy any illusion of that “excessive familiarity which breeds contempt and of misuse which breeds disgust.”

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