The Cambridge Companion to Tocqueville

Transcends national, ideological, disciplinary, and textual boundaries to bring together the best in Tocqueville scholarship.

Cheryl B. Welch (Edited by)

9780521549967, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 2 October 2006

460 pages
22.8 x 15.1 x 2.6 cm, 0.627 kg

The Cambridge Companion to Tocqueville contains a set of critical interpretive essays by internationally renowned scholars on the work of Alexis de Tocqueville. The essays cover Tocqueville's major themes (liberty, equality, democracy, despotism, civil society, religion) and texts (Democracy in America, Recollections, Old Regime and the Revolution, other important reports, speeches and letters). The authors analyze both Tocqueville's contributions as a theorist of modern democracy and his craft as a writer. Collections of secondary work on Tocqueville have tended to fall into camps, either bringing together only scholars from one point of view or discipline, or treating only one major text. This Companion transcends national, ideological, disciplinary, and textual boundaries to bring together the best in recent Tocqueville scholarship. The essays not only introduce Tocqueville's major themes and texts, but also put forward provocative arguments that advance the field of Tocqueville studies.

Part I. Theory: 1. Tocqueville's comparative perspectives Seymour Drescher
2. Tocqueville on 1789: preconditions, precipitants, and triggers Jon Elster
3. Tocqueville's new political science Harvey C. Mansfield and Delba Winthrop
4. Tocqueville, political philosopher Pierre Manent
Part II. Texts: 5. Tocqueville's Democracy in America reconsidered James T. Schleifer
6. Translating Tocqueville: the constraints of classicism Arthur Goldhammer
7. The writer Engagé: Tocqueville and political rhetoric Laurence Guellec
8. The shifting puzzles of Tocqueville's The Old Regime and the Revolution Robert T. Gannett Jr.
Part III. Themes: 9. Tocqueville and civil society Dana Villa
10. Tocqueville on threats to liberty in democracies Melvin Richter
11. Tocqueville and democratic religious experience Joshua Mitchell
12. Tocqueville on fraternity and fratricide Cheryl B. Welch
Part IV. Two Traditions: 13. Tocqueville and the French Françoise Mélonio
14. Tocqueville and the Americans: Democracy in America as read in nineteenth-century America Olivier Zunz.

Subject Areas: Political science & theory [JPA], Social theory [JHBA], Social & political philosophy [HPS], Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900 [HBLL], History of the Americas [HBJK], Regional studies [GTB]