De Marchi / Tarvisio

Lettura estiva per Livio

 

    

 


Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, ed. J. P. Mayer, reissue edition (Harper/Collins, 1988).
McKenzie, David, ed., e pluribus unum: A Reader for HUM 200 (Copley Custom
Publishers, 2002).

There are two basic texts. The first is Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America, a historical treatment of American democracy and a rich commentary on American social and political life written by the influential French political philosopher almost two hundred years ago. We will focus on Volume 2, "The Social Influence of Democracy."

The second text is an anthology, e pluribus unum: A Reader for Humanities 200, a text put together by the HUM 200 faculty and edited with their assistance by David McKenzie, Director of the e pluribus unum Program. The reader establishes much of the common content for the course. It includes selections on the topics, "Nation, State, and Individual," "Native Americans and European Colonists," "Immigration Models and Challenges," "Race Relations," "Sex, Gender, and Politics," and "Religion and Politics.

 

 

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Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-59) came to America in 1831 to see what a great republic was like. What struck him most was the country's equality of conditions, its democracy. The book he wrote on his return to France, Democracy in America, is both the best ever written on democracy and the best ever written on America. It remains the most often quoted book about the United States, not only because it has something to interest and please everyone, but also because it has something to teach everyone.

Harvey Mansfield and Delba Winthrop's new translation of Democracy in America is the first to appear in three decades and only the third since the original two-volume work was published in 1835 and 1840. It captures the elegance, subtlety, and profundity of Tocqueville's original. Their translation is the only one to provide notes identifying events and allusion no longer familiar to today's readers, and, unlike other translations, it includes a superb and substantial introduction placing the work and its author in the broader context of the traditions of political philosophy and statesmanship. As we approach the 160th anniversary of the publication of Democracy in America, Mansfield and Winthrop have provided an additional reason to celebrate. Lavishly prepared and produced, this long-awaited new translation will surely become the authoritative edition of Tocqueville's profound and prescient masterwork.