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3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
Longest driest-ass book I’ve ever read, but still somewhat interesting, especially the first half. Written by some French dude 200 years ago. French dudes gotta stick to each other. 4 stars.
informative
medium-paced
I wish I was wealthy and arrogant enough to go exploring in another country and write 900 pages of unqualified commentary on that country’s people and culture and then have generations call my work a great political classic.
challenging
informative
slow-paced
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
What an absolute slog and well worth it if you want a good sense of what educated, propertied white men @ the early 19th century were thinking. Making my way through Democracy in America was difficult until I re-read Benedict Anderson's Imagined Communities which I did twice as I was reading de Tocqueville. Anderson wrote so convincingly of the 'creole pioneers' who founded American democracies and how the nations of Europe were actually formed after the American Revolutions that Anderson provided the context of de Tocqueville's project of detailing the dissolution of the aristocracy given the advent of the idea of equality and the founding of the United States.
And then there is the payoff of the dark and troubling 4th part where de Tocqueville investigates how close democracy is to despotism - how individuals will get caught up in their own pursuits and ignore the growing power of the state, how individuals will fail to educate themselves and how individuals will fail to protect the individual liberties of others as it is easier to go along to get along.
De Tocqueville even notes how despots will find it beneficial to attack the judiciary and the rule of law. It's been 200 years and it still sends a chill.
*On rating - I wish Goodreads had a rating that was 'how much I liked it' plus 'how glad I am that I read it'. 2 for how much I liked it; 6 for glad I read it.
And then there is the payoff of the dark and troubling 4th part where de Tocqueville investigates how close democracy is to despotism - how individuals will get caught up in their own pursuits and ignore the growing power of the state, how individuals will fail to educate themselves and how individuals will fail to protect the individual liberties of others as it is easier to go along to get along.
De Tocqueville even notes how despots will find it beneficial to attack the judiciary and the rule of law. It's been 200 years and it still sends a chill.
*On rating - I wish Goodreads had a rating that was 'how much I liked it' plus 'how glad I am that I read it'. 2 for how much I liked it; 6 for glad I read it.
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Everyone needs to read this book I am being so serious right now. De Toqueville breaks down every single possible facet of our democratic system in America (to the point of slight excess, volume 2 was a lot drier / less visibly relevant than volume 1) in an educated and surprisingly unbiased way. I was particularly impressed with his treatment of the Native American & slavery issues of the time, for a white aristocrat. There is definitely a good bit of prophecy in this book regarding where America could end up - or democracies in general - and I copied several quotes. It's a monster of a read, but it's worth it.