20th in a series “Democracy in America” is the title of a book that has become an American Classic. Its author was not an American, but a French aristocrat, Alexis Charles Henri Clérel, comte de Tocqueville (1805–59), Tocqueville for short (pronounced toke/vil, with the accent on the first syllable). He was the most observant of men, and his book is a record of his observations of America a half-century after Independence. It is a great rambling work, better read in bits and snatches, rather than as one con … (read more)
