Read by Anna Simon, James Tiley, Sibella Denton, Mim Ritty, radioreader, Bob Tassinari, Gary Gilberd, Christian Pecaut, Leon Mire, Joshua B. Christensen · 45 chapters · 17 h 43
In 1831 a young Frenchman named Alexis de Tocqueville set out for the United States, officially to study its prisons. He came home with something much larger: a portrait of a new kind of society, built on equality, voluntary associations, and the power of public opinion.
Democracy in America, whose first volume appeared in 1835, examines American political institutions, from town meetings to the federal system and the courts, and asks what a democratic age will mean for liberty, for religion, for the press and for minorities. His observations are keen, sometimes warning, and often surprisingly relevant today.
Forty-five chapters and nearly eighteen hours, in the English translation by Henry Reeve. A classic of political thought, and an invitation to think about democracy from the outside, through the eyes of a gifted visitor.
Introduction
Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) was a French aristocrat, political thinker and historian. In 1831 he travelled to the United States with his friend Gustave de Beaumont, ostensibly to study the American prison system, and spent nine months observing the country. The result was De la démocratie en Amérique, published in two volumes, the first in 1835 and the second in 1840. It made him famous across Europe.
The first volume concentrates on political institutions: the Constitution, the role of the states, the judiciary, local government and the press. Tocqueville is interested in how liberty and equality can coexist, and he identifies a number of dangers, among them what he calls the tyranny of the majority. He is not hostile to democracy but wishes to understand its strengths and weaknesses. The book also contains a well-known discussion of the situation of Native Americans and of slavery, which reflects both his insight and the limitations of his time.
This recording uses the English translation by Henry Reeve (1813-1895), published in the mid-nineteenth century and long the standard English version. Later translators have produced more modern renderings, but Reeve’s was widely read. The recording has forty-five chapters and runs for about seventeen and a half hours, read by LibriVox volunteers.
The book is serious but readable, with a clear structure that suits listening in short sessions. For anyone interested in politics, history or the American experiment, it remains a landmark.
Public domain
Alexis de Tocqueville died in 1859: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
