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A review by roam_
Democracy in America and Two Essays on America by Alexis de Tocqueville
5.0
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.