Major Works

• Recollections: The French Revolution of 1848

  - Recommended Translation: Tocqueville, Alexis de. Recollections: The French Revolution of 1848. Edited by J. P. Mayer and A. P. Kerr. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Press, 1987. Originally published in 1893.
  Excerpt: Removed for a time from the scene of public life, I am constrained, in the midst of my solitude, to turn my thoughts upon myself, or rather to reflect upon contemporary events in which I have taken part or acted as a witness. And it seems to me that… More

Other Works

• Correspondence and Conversation with Nassau Williams

  - Correspondence and Conversations of Alexis de Tocqueville with Nassau William Senior from 1834-1859, ed. M.C.M. Simpson, in Two Volumes (London: Henry S. King & Co., 1872)
  Excerpt: Alexis de Tocqueville to N.W. Senior March 24, 1834. My dear Mr. Senior,– I hope that you have not yet entirely forgotten one who will always remember your kind reception with gratitude. I take to-day the liberty of asking you to bestow a… More

• Journeys to England and Ireland

  - Journeys to England and Ireland, ed. J.P. Mayer, trans. George Lawrence and K.P. Mayer (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1958)
  Excerpt: Well, here I am at Tocqueville, in my old family ruin. A  league away is the harbour from which William set out to conquer England. I am surrounded by Normans whose names figure in the lists of the conquerors. All that, I must admit, ‘flatters… More

• Selected Letters on Politics and Society

  - Recommended Translation:  Selected Letters on Politics and Society, ed. Roger Boesche, trans. James Toupin and Roger Boesche (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986)
  Excerpt: Paris, Feb. 21, 1835. To Eugène Stoffels: It is a long time since I have had any talk with you, dear friend; yet I often think of you. Among other anxieties, I am anxious about your present and future position. I fancy that if, as seems probable,… More

Commentary

• Tocqueville: A Biography

  - André Jardin.  Tocqueville: A Biography, trans. Lydia Davis with Robert Hemenway.  (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1989)
  Excerpt: On 11 Thermidor of the year XIII (July 29, 1805) there was born in Paris “at 987, rue de la Ville-l’Eveque, Roule division… Alexis-Charles-Henri… son of Herve-Louis-Francois-Jean-Bonaventure Clérel, landed proprietor, aged 33, and… More

• “Majority Tyranny in Aristotle and Tocqueville” by Harvey Mansfield

  - Mansfield, Harvey C. "Majority Tyranny in Aristotle and Tocqueville." In Friends and Citizens: Essays in Honor of Wilson Carey McWilliams, edited by Peter Dennis Bathory and Nancy L. Schwartz, 289–297. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2000.
  Excerpt: To compare Aristotle and Alexis de Tocqueville may not seem appropriate because Tocqueville does not seem to address Aristotle directly. He did not read Aristotle every day as he said he read Pascal, Montesquieu, and Rousseau. The latter are modern… More

• De Tocqueville

  - Cheryl B. Welch, "De Tocqueville" (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001)
  Excerpt: Alexis de Tocqueville was born nearly two centuries ago into what he himself characterized as a dying breed of anachronistic aristocrats.  Yet his work seems to retain a greater measure of normative and explanatory power—and intellectual… More

• Tocqueville between Two Worlds: The Making of a Political and Theoretical Life

  - Sheldon Wolin, Tocqueville between Two Worlds: The Making of a Political and Theoretical Life.  (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003)
  Excerpt: Tocqueville singled out “powerlessness” as the striking characteristic of the politics of the times. Yet those times might also be described as notable for the abundance and variety of powers rather than their scarcity and for actors… More

• Soft Despotism, Democracy’s Drift: Montesquieu, Rousseau, Tocqueville, and the Modern Prospect

  - Paul A Rahe.  Soft Despotism, Democracy's Drift: Montesquieu, Rousseau, Tocqueville, and the Modern Prospect. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2010)
  Excerpt:   In early November 1836, when Tocqueville wrote to Louis de Kergorlay to voice his frustration and his worries, he complained that “a multitude of ideas remains obscure in my mind,” ad he lamented that, in the absence of his childhood… More

• Tocqueville and America

  - James Q. Wilson.  "Tocqueville and America," Claremont Review of Books, Vol. XII, No. 2 (Spring 2012)
  Excerpt of an admiring but critical essay by James Q. Wilson on Tocqueville: Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville is no doubt the greatest book ever written by a foreigner about this country. It may be one of the greatest books written about any… More

Multimedia

• Tocqueville in France

  - "Tocqueville in France, "C-SPAN Discussion, April 26, 1997
  Tocqueville in France The Tocqueville series was launched with a live program from the Normandy, France chateau of the Tocqueville family. Descendants of Alexis de Tocqueville and Gustave de Beaumont, Tocqueville scholars and others discussed the family… More

• Tocqueville and Aristocracy

  - "Tocqueville and Aristocracy," C-Span Discussion, September 12, 1997
  Tocqueville and Aristocracy Political scientists and historians from the U.S. and Europe talked about the philosophies of Alexis de Tocqueville, questioning how much of a democrat he was and how much the philosopher Aristotle influenced his writing. The… More

• Tocqueville’s World and Ours

  - James Ceaser, "Tocqueville's World and Ours," Lecture at Furman University, February 20, 2013
  Tocqueville’s World and Ours A rigorous examination of Democracy in America’s “new political science” and a search to answer, “What was Tocqueville putting behind him?” with his declaredly new approach.