GOVT 86.32 Tocqueville’s Democracy in America
Tocqueville’s Democracy is said by some to be the best book every written on American democracy. Yet few read it—that is to say, read it all, from front to back. Most, if they read it at all, content themselves with the few chapters that might be included in an anthology. Indeed, one might say that few today read books of any sort, especially big, serious, non-fiction books. This is a chance to read a book—an entire book, a big book, an important book… perhaps the most important book about politics that you will ever read.
The point of this course, in short, is to read Tocqueville’s book—and discuss it, and ultimately evaluate whether Tocqueville’s book is merely a reflection on Jacksonian America, or whether it is, in our estimation, a book on democracy as such. If it is a book on democracy as such, what does it suggest we have to hope for or to fear from the democratic age?
Instructor
Latimer