Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville

The abridged edition of the enduring masterwork, a classic portrait of America's culture and people.

Originally penned in the mid-nineteenth century by Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America remains the most comprehensive, penetrating and astute picture of American life, politics and morals ever written, as relevant today as when it first appeared in print nearly two hundred years ago.

This abridged edition by scholar and historian Scott A. Sandage includes a new introduction and editorial notes, and offers students and general readers alike easy access to the preeminent translation by George Lawrence, widely recognized as the best translation based on the second revised and corrected text of the 1961 French edition, edited by J. P. Mayer.

This book is featured on The Book Club with Michael Knowles, PragerU's show dedicated to the great books of Western civilization. In this episode, Michael Knowles is joined by Pete Peterson, dean of the Pepperdine School of Public Policy, to discuss what Tocqueville's warnings of materialism and "soft despotism" can teach us about the trajectory of American self-governance, freedom and equality nearly two centuries later.

📺 Watch the episode: Pete Peterson — Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville

Own this abridged edition of Tocqueville's masterwork and discover why his prophetic account of American life still resonates two hundred years later.