Tocqueville: a Very Short Introduction Free

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Tocqueville: A Very Short Introduction uncovers the man behind the landmark Democracy in America a book still considered one of the best sources for anyone trying to understand American democracy. Tocqueville was a liberal and a thinker whose life's experiences — his aristocratic ancestry, his ventures in politics, and his voyages abroad Tocqueville: A Very Short Introduction shaped his writings. His work expressed his passion for political liberty and insistence on human greatness. He opposed abstraction and theory, and his emphasis on the practice of self-government in America was a reflection of his hopes and fears for America, and his disappointment with his native France. Harvey Mansfield, author William R. Kenan, Jr. Access to the complete content on Very Short Introductions online requires a subscription or purchase. Public users are able to search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter without a subscription. Please subscribe Tocqueville: A Very Short Introduction login to access full Tocqueville: A Very Short Introduction content. If you have purchased a print title that contains an access token, please see the token for information about how to register your code. For questions on access or troubleshooting, please check our FAQsand if you can't find the answer there, please contact us. Very Short Introductions online. Publications Pages Publications Pages. Recently viewed 0 Save Search. Author Harvey Mansfield, author William R. Read More. Front Matter Acknowledgments List of illustrations Introduction: a new kind of liberal 1. Informal democracy 4. Democratic despotism 5. Rational administration 6. All rights reserved. Sign in to annotate. Delete Cancel Save. Cancel Save. 4. Democratic despotism - Very Short Introductions

The greatest danger to democracy, according to Tocqueville, comes out of the very nature of democracy. His later analysis of American democracy identifies the replacement of the sovereignty of the people with the tyranny of mild despotism, that is big government, as a great danger. He argues that individual freedoms and limits on the legislature are needed in order to maintain true democracy. Access to the complete content on Very Short Introductions online requires a subscription or purchase. Public users are able to search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter without a subscription. Please subscribe or login to access full text content. If you have purchased a print title that contains an access token, please see the token for information about how to register your code. For questions on access or troubleshooting, please check our FAQs Tocqueville: A Very Short Introduction, and if you can't find Tocqueville: A Very Short Introduction answer there, please contact us. Very Short Introductions online. Publications Pages Publications Pages. Recently viewed 0 Save Search. Tocqueville: A Very Short Introduction. Google Preview. Read More. Subscriber sign in You could not be signed in, please check and try again. Username Please enter your Username. Password Please enter your Password. Forgot password? Tocqueville: A Very Short Introduction have an account? Sign in via your Institution. You could not be signed in, please check and try again. Sign in with your library card Please enter your library card number. Search within Informal democracy 4. Democratic despotism 5. Rational administration 6. Democratic despotism Harvey C. Acknowledgments List of illustrations Introduction: a new kind of liberal 1. All rights reserved. Sign in to annotate. Delete Cancel Save. Cancel Save. Tocqueville: A Very Short Introduction - Harvey C. Mansfield

Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Preview — Tocqueville by Harvey Mansfield. Delba Winthrop. No one has ever described American democracy with more accurate insight or more profoundly than Alexis de Tocqueville. After meeting with Americans on extensive travels in the United States, and intense study of documents and authorities, he authored the landmark Democracy in Americapublishing its two volumes in and Ever since, this book has been the best sour No one has ever described American democracy with more accurate insight or more profoundly than Alexis de Tocqueville. Ever since, this book has been the best source for every serious attempt to Tocqueville: A Very Short Introduction America and democracy itself. Yet Tocqueville himself remains a mystery behind the elegance of his style. Now one of our leading authorities on Tocqueville explains him in this splendid new entry in Oxford's acclaimed Very Short Introduction series. Harvey Mansfield addresses his subject as a thinker, clearly and incisively exploring Tocqueville's writings--not only his masterpiece, but also his secret Recollectionsintended for posterity alone, and his unfinished work on his native France, The Old Regime and the Revolution. Tocqueville was a liberal, Mansfield writes, but not of the usual sort. The many elements of his life found expression in his thought: Tocqueville: A Very Short Introduction aristocratic ancestry, his ventures in politics, his voyages abroad, his hopes and fears for America, and his disappointment with France. All his writings show a passion for political liberty and insistence on human greatness. Perhaps most important, he saw liberty not in theories, but in the practice of self-government in America. Ever an opponent of abstraction, he offered an analysis that forces us to consider what we actually do in our politics--suggesting that theory itself may be an enemy of freedom. And that, Mansfield writes, makes him a vitally important thinker for today. Translator of an authoritative edition of Democracy in AmericaHarvey Mansfield here offers the fruit of decades of research and reflection in a clear, insightful, and marvelously compact introduction. Get A Copy. Paperbackpages. More Details Original Title. Other Editions 3. Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Tocquevilleplease sign up. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 3. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Oct 01, robin friedman rated it it was amazing. Harvey Mansfield's study of Alexis de Tocqueville -- offers a provocative interpretation of this thinker and his continued importance rather than a mere summary. The book is part of Oxford University Press' "Very Short Introductions" series which aims to introduce readers to subjects and persons of importance in brief volumes. Mansfield is the William R. Kenan Jr. He h Harvey Mansfield's study of Alexis de Tocqueville -- offers a provocative interpretation of this thinker and his continued importance rather than a mere summary. He has written extensively about political philosophy and in published an acclaimed translation of Tocqueville's "Democracy in America". Tocqueville was a French aristocrat who achieved greatness for his thoughts about democracy. Mansfield offers a short consideration of Tocqueville: A Very Short Introduction life and of Tocqueville: A Very Short Introduction endeavors in politics, but he spends most of the book discussing the writings. He concentrates of Tocqueville's most famous work, "Democracy in America" published in two volumes in and The book includes Tocqueville's reflections on the United States based upon a nine-month visit in with his friend, Gustave de Beaumont. Almost everyone who writes about or seeks to understand the United States studies and refers to "Democracy in America". Mansfield also considers Tocqueville's two other important books and their relationship to "Democracy": "The Old Regime and the Revolution"Tocqueville: A Very Short Introduction book left unfinished which explores the background of the French Revolution, and the "Recollections", a personal account of the Revolution of which remained unpublished, at Tocqueville's request, until In a letter to a friend, Tocqueville described himself as a "new kind of liberal". Mansfield tries to show how this description was justified. Mansfield distinguishes Tocqueville from the older kind of liberalism of Hobbes and Locke which was based upon a social contract theory and a view of human beings and their rights in a state of nature before social organization. Mansfield argues that Tocqueville rejects this individualistic, pre-social analysis of the human condition Tocqueville: A Very Short Introduction accepts instead an Aristotelian Tocqueville: A Very Short Introduction of man as a "political animal". Human beings must be understood, in this view, in a social context at the outset rather than as disconnected individuals. Mansfield also argues that Tocqueville distrusted philosophy or ideology of any stripe as a basis for understanding political liberalism. Instead, Tocqueville developed his thinking about democracy, its merits and its dangers, from a consideration of the ways in which people work with and get along with one another. This approach gives his study of American democracy a descriptive, empirical cast. For Mansfield, Tocqueville begins with the American democratic experience in the self-governance of small towns and local courts rather than in large-scale government or in philosophical abstractions. Another way in which Tocqueville's liberalism was "new", Mansfield argues, was in its friendliness to religion and in its critique of materialism. As a liberal, Tocqueville insisted upon the separation of religion from governance. But he found religion performed a critical role in reminding individuals in a democracy on the importance of virtue and of spiritual values as opposed simply to making money and to pursuing short-term satisfactions. Finally, for Mansfield, Tocqueville's liberalism differed from its predecessors in recognizing the importance of individual human greatness and achievement. Perhaps as a result of his aristocratic background, Tocqueville thought that the goal of democracy was to allow individuals to achieve and excel and develop their gifts rather than to produce a state of leveling and mass mediocrity. In his study, Mansfield develops the nature of Tocqueville's liberalism by focusing on five subjects: his description of democratic politics, thoughts on democratic self-government, his fears for democracy, his discussion of the rational administrative state and its virtues and limitations, and, lastly, Tocqueville's understanding of human greatness and its realization in a democracy. This is a great deal of material to cover in a "Very Short Introduction". Mansfield's Tocqueville: A Very Short Introduction is dense, concentrated, and pithy. Mansfield's book offers a short, insightful overview of Tocqueville's thought. It made me want to revisit Tocqueville Tocqueville: A Very Short Introduction myself. The book reminded me of, for some, the importance of thought and study in understanding the United Tocqueville: A Very Short Introduction and its experiment in democratic government. Robin Friedman View 2 comments. Dec 05, Daniel Wright rated it liked it Shelves: politics-and-irvsibiographymodern-history. Alexis Tocqueville: A Very Short Introduction Tocqueville's contributions to either the development of political Tocqueville: A Very Short Introduction or to actual political events are minimal and yet his influence endures because he is so likeable - enchantingly moderate, a charming and generous aristocrat as well as a democrat. Harvey C. Mansfield is the author of an acclaimed and authoritative translation of Tocqueville's most enduring work, Democracy in Americaand the pages of this book glitter with highly quotable insight into his thought, making i Alexis de Tocqueville's contributions to either the development of political philosophy or to actual political events are minimal and yet his influence endures because he is so likeable - enchantingly moderate, a charming and generous aristocrat as well as a democrat. Mansfield is the author of an acclaimed and authoritative translation of Tocqueville's most enduring work, Democracy in Americaand the pages of this book glitter with highly quotable insight into his thought, making it both a pleasure and a challenge. Introduction: a new kind of liberal Chapter 1: Tocqueville's democratic providence Chapter 2: Tocqueville's praise of democracy Chapter 3: Informal democracy Chapter 4: Democratic despotism Chapter 5: Rational administration Chapter 6: Tocqueville's pride Democracy in America is one of my absolute favorite reads, and I found Mansfield's Tocqueville: A Very Short Introduction to its author a wonderful complement to it. You get so much more insight into the mind of Alexis de Tocqueville with an understanding of his own role in politics back home. And you get to see his unflagging optimism punctured a bit in the brief survey of his other works in this VSI. Jan 03, Jacob Lines rated it liked it Shelves: american-history. Not that he participated in American history, but because he wrote about us, and that is really flattering. Mansfield is perfectly suited for this, since he has spent years translating Tocqueville. This is a good introduction to Tocqueville. It explains how an aristocrat fell in love with democracy and survived the French Revolution to serve in several different kinds of government. It also does an excellent job of presenting the main thrust of his Tocqueville: A Very Short Introduction works in a small space. The discussion of volume one of Democracy in America is very interesting. The book slows down a bit as it makes its way through the second volume of Democracy in America, but it picks up with the discussion of The Old Regime and the Revolution. Jul 01, M Pereira rated it it was ok Shelves: very-short-introductionfrench-revolution. A book that really highlights the overlap between contractarianism, enlightenment European values, the American Revolution or one perspective of it and the French Revolution. A fascinating work where it marked the move of men of letters to think about serious and political matters instead of being mainly literary figures. I wouldn't be reading so many of the current affairs political books as I would without someone like de Tocqueville's 'Democracy in America'. Feb 16, Jordan rated it it was amazing.