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
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… MoreTocqueville: A Biography by Andre Hardin
- Jardin, André. Tocqueville: A Biography. Translated by Lydia Davis and Robert Hemenway. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1989.From the publisher: “In this first major biography of the author of Democracy in America, André Jardin traces Alexis de Tocqueville’s eventful life from his birth in 1805 to aristocratic parents in post-revolutionary France, through his trip to… MoreThe Making of Tocqueville’s Democracy in America
- James T. Schleifer, The Making of Tocqueville’s Democracy in America, Foreword by George W. Pierson (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2000)Excerpt: Alexis de Tocqueville’s first journey to America ended on 20 February 1832, when the Havre sailed from New York for France. But his nine-month visit had been only a preface to a second voyage that would consume the next eight years: the writing of… MoreDe 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… MoreTocqueville, Political Philosopher
- Pierre Manent, "Tocqueville, Political Philosopher," trans. Arthur Goldhammer in The Cambridge Companion to Tocqueville, ed. Cheryl B. Welch. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006)Excerpt: Since 2002,texts by Tocqueville have been included in the syllabus for the French Agrégation de Philosophie. What are we to think of this belated promotion of Tocqueville to the rank of philosopher? Did the sages who draft the syllabi give into… MoreTocqueville: A Very Short Introduction by Harvey Mansfield
- Mansfield, Harvey C. Tocqueville: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.Excerpt: “What sort of man was Alexis de Tocqueville? A writer, certainly, and with great style, but a writer of nonfiction conveying fact and truth in compelling terms with brilliant formulations. A social scientist, but without the cumbersome… More
Multimedia
Tocqueville in France
- "Tocqueville in France, "C-SPAN Discussion, April 26, 1997Tocqueville 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… MoreHarvey Mansfield: In-Depth on Tocqueville
- "In-Depth with Harvey Mansfield," interview, C-SPAN, September 4 2005.In Depth with Harvey Mansfield