Alexis de Tocqueville: Democracy in America (LOA #147): A new translation by Arthur Goldhammer

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Library of America, 2004 M02 9 - 928 páginas
An exclusive new translation of the most perceptive and influential book ever written about American politics and society“the bible on democracy” (The Texas Observer)

This Library of America volume presents de Tocqueville’s masterpiece in an entirely new translationthe first to fully capture his style and provide a rigorous, faithful rendering of his profound ideas and observations


Alexis de Tocqueville, a young aristocratic French lawyer, came to the United States in 1831 to study its penitentiary systems. His nine-month visit and subsequent reading and reflection resulted in this landmark masterpiece of political observation and analysis.

In Democracy in America, Tocqueville vividly describes the unprecedented social equality he found in America and explores its implications for European society in the emerging modern era. His book provides enduring insight into the political consequences of widespread property ownership, the potential dangers to liberty inherent in majority rule, the vital role of religion in American life, and the importance of civil institutions in an individualistic culture dominated by the pursuit of material self-interest. He also probes the deep differences between the free and slave states, writing prophetically of racism, bigotry, and prejudice in the United States.

Brought to life by Arthur Goldhammer’s clear, fluid, and vigorous translation, this volume of Democracy in America is the first to fully capture Tocqueville’s achievements both as an accomplished literary stylist and as a profound political thinker.

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Contenido

Introduction
3
The Outward Configuration of North America
21
On the Point of Departure and Its Importance
31
Social State of the AngloAmericans
52
On the Principle of Popular Sovereignty
62
On Judicial Power in the United States and
111
On Political Judgment in the United States
120
On the Federal Constitution
126
On the Particular Effects of the Love
620
How the Taste for Material Gratifications
629
How Excessive Love of WellBeing
638
Why Nearly All Americans Are Inclined
644
PART III
652
How Democracy Simplifies and Eases
660
Consequences of the Three Previous Chapters
667
How Democracy Modifies Relations Between Servant and Master
669

PART II
132
Why It Is Strictly Accurate to Say That in
197
CONTENTS
202
On Freedom of the Press in the United States
205
On Political Association in the United States
215
On the Government of Democracy in America
224
What Are the Real Advantages to American
264
On the Omnipotence of the Majority in
283
On That Which Tempers the Tyranny of
301
On the Principal Causes That Tend to Maintain
319
Some Considerations Concerning the Present
365
VOLUME
477
On the Philosophical Method of the Americans
483
On the Principal Source of Beliefs Among
489
Why the Americans Have Never Been
499
On the Progress of Catholicism in
510
How the Example of the Americans Does
516
Why Americans Devote Themselves More to
522
In What Spirit Americans Cultivate the Arts
530
Why Americans Build Such Insignificant
536
On the Literary Industry
544
On Some Sources of Poetry in Democratic
554
Why American Writers and Orators
561
On Certain Tendencies Peculiar to Historians
569
PART II
576
On Individualism in Democratic Countries
585
On the Use That Americans Make
595
Relations Between Civil Associations
604
How Americans Combat Individualism with
610
How Americans Apply the Doctrine
614
How Democratic Institutions and Mores Tend to Raise Prices and Shorten the Terms of Leases
679
Influence of Democracy on Wages
682
Influence of Democracy on the Family
685
Raising Girls in the United States
692
How the Traits of the Girl Can Be Divined in the Wife
695
How Equality of Conditions Helps to Maintain Good Morals in America
698
How the Americans Understand the Equality of Man and Woman
705
How Equality Naturally Divides the Americans into a Multitude of Small Private Societies
709
Some Reflections on American Manners
711
On the Gravity of Americans and Why It Does Not Prevent Them from Acting Rashly
715
Why the National Vanity of the Americans Is More Restless and Argumentative Than That of the English
719
How Society in the United States Seems Both Agitated and Monotonous
722
On Honor in the United States and in Democratic Societies
725
Why There Are So Many Ambitious Men and So Few Great Ambitions in the United States
738
On PlaceHunting in Certain Democratic Nations
745
Why Great Revolutions Will Become Rare
747
Why Democratic Peoples Naturally Desire Peace and Democratic Armies Naturally Desire War
761
Which Class in Democratic Armies Is the Most
768
On Discipline in Democratic Armies
777
ON THE INFLUENCE THAT DEMOCRATIC IDEAS
785
How the Sentiments of Democratic Peoples
793
How Sovereign Power in Todays European
803
What Kind of Despotism Democratic Nations
816
Continuation of the Preceding Chapters
822
General View of the Subject
831
Tocquevilles Notes 835
852
Translators Note
873
Note on the Texts
907
Index
925

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Acerca del autor (2004)

Arthur Goldhammer is the award-winning translator of more than eighty French works in history, literature, art history, classical studies, philosophy, psychology, and social science. Olivier Zunz is Commonwealth Professor of History at the University of Virginia, and the author of numerous books including Why the American Century? He has also co-edited The Tocqueville Reader (Blackwell) and is president of the Tocqueville Society.

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