Overview
Why did the French Revolution lead to the crimes of the Terror, whereas the American Revolution brought forth a liberal democracy? Alexis de Tocqueville spent a lifetime trying to understand the paradox. This first book on the genesis of Tocqueville's Democracy in America considers his two main themes of democracy and revolution in the light of his own early political activities and his subsequent studies of the past, and thereby makes a valuable contribution to intellectual history.
In tracing the evolution of Tocqueville's work, Lamberti reveals Tocqueville's enormous intellectual debt to Montesquieu; skillfully analyzes all that separates Tocqueville from the liberal French school, particularly Benjamin Constant and François Guizot; shows that Tocqueville believed that the only means of preventing new revolutions (which he abhorred) was to increase political freedom, especially that of association; sketches the difference between Tocqueville and counter-revolutionaries on the question of individualism, which Tocqueville wished to correct but not annihilate. Never before have historians been able to place Tocqueville so securely in the genealogy of French liberalism. This new work demonstrates his relevance to the world today.
Synopsis
Why did the French Revolution lead to the crimes of the Terror, whereas the American Revolution brought forth a liberal democracy? Alexis de Tocqueville spent a lifetime trying to understand the paradox. This first book on the genesis of Tocqueville's Democracy in America considers his two main themes of democracy and revolution in the light of his own early political activities and his subsequent studies of the past, and thereby makes a valuable contribution to intellectual history.
In tracing the evolution of Tocqueville's work, Lamberti reveals Tocqueville's enormous intellectual debt to Montesquieu; skillfully analyzes all that separates Tocqueville from the liberal French school, particularly Benjamin Constant and François Guizot; shows that Tocqueville believed that the only means of preventing new revolutions (which he abhorred) was to increase political freedom, especially that of association; sketches the difference between Tocqueville and counter-revolutionaries on the question of individualism, which Tocqueville wished to correct but not annihilate. Never before have historians been able to place Tocqueville so securely in the genealogy of French liberalism. This new work demonstrates his relevance to the world today.
Library Journal
Lamberti here presents a profound interpretation of Democracy in America , based on working manuscripts, rough drafts, and unpublished preparatory notes for the work held in the Yale archives. His solid familiarity with both French and American Tocqueville criticism and with the social, political, and intellectual ambience of both countries at the time allows him to analyze Tocqueville's real place in intellectual history, and he succeeds in bringing focus to Democracy by stressing the unifying theses in Tocqueville's thought. Differences between the two democracies--the liberal, American democracy and the revolutionary French democracy--are richly presented in the diverse contexts from which they sprung. Excellent bibliographical notes underline the extent to which Lamberti has brought new insights to this complicated field. For scholars and specialists.-- Anthony Caprio, American Univ., Washington, D.C.