Talking Politics: HISTORY OF IDEAS

Tocqueville on Democracy


Listen Later

Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America (1835/40) can claim to be the best book ever written about democracy and the best book ever written about America. David discusses what Tocqueville was expecting when he went to see American democracy for himself and what he actually found. Tocqueville was amazed and impressed by the American way of doing politics, but his fears about how its democracy might go wrong remain as prescient as ever.


Free online version of the text:

  •  Volume 1 and Volume 2

Recommended version to purchase: 

  • https://www.amazon.co.uk/Democracy-America-Essays-Penguin-Classics/dp/0140447601

Going Deeper:

  • In Our Time on Tocqueville’s Democracy in America
  • Harvey C. Mansfield, Jr, Tocqueville: a very short introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010)
  • Annette Gordon Reed, ‘America’s Original Sin: Slavery and the Legacy of White Supremacy’
  • Hugh Brogan, Alexis de Tocqueville: prophet of democracy in the age of revolution (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007).
  • Talking Politics American History series on the 15th and 19th amendment

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Talking Politics: HISTORY OF IDEASBy Talking Politics

  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8

4.8

479 ratings


More shows like Talking Politics: HISTORY OF IDEAS

View all
The LRB Podcast by The London Review of Books

The LRB Podcast

301 Listeners

The Reith Lectures by BBC Radio 4

The Reith Lectures

212 Listeners

In Our Time by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time

5,474 Listeners

In Our Time: History by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: History

1,880 Listeners

In Our Time: Philosophy by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: Philosophy

869 Listeners

In Our Time: Culture by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: Culture

608 Listeners

Arts & Ideas by BBC Radio 4

Arts & Ideas

302 Listeners

Political Fix by Financial Times

Political Fix

143 Listeners

Daily Politics from the New Statesman by The New Statesman

Daily Politics from the New Statesman

138 Listeners

The Rest Is History by Goalhanger

The Rest Is History

15,596 Listeners

The Rest Is Politics by Goalhanger

The Rest Is Politics

3,033 Listeners

Empire: World History by Goalhanger

Empire: World History

2,473 Listeners

The Rest Is Politics: Leading by Goalhanger

The Rest Is Politics: Leading

756 Listeners

Past Present Future by David Runciman

Past Present Future

342 Listeners

The Econoclasts by UnHerd

The Econoclasts

124 Listeners