Alexis de Tocqueville (Paperback)

Prophet of Democracy in the Age of Revolution

Hugh Brogan

Alexis de Tocqueville, French aristocrat, liberal politician and writer of genius was the greatest of all modern political writers. His writings are ever more influential and hugely valuable for the study of French and American society during the Age of the Democratic Revolution

As the son of a noble family which was nearly wiped out in the Revolution and as an ambitious politician during the July Monarchy and the Second Republic, Alexis de Tocqueville had a front seat at the revolutionary drama of his time. In 1831 Tocqueville made the famous voyage to the United States which led to his masterpiece, Democracy in America, one of the most vital works in the history of democratic thought.

'One of the delights of this remarkable biography is to let its readers see the past as if it were the present, through the eyes of civilised Frenchmen like Tocqueville ... A biography as humane, learned, humorous and perceptive as this extends our knowledge of ourselves and where we came from, as well as painting an incomparable portrait of one of the sharpest and most sympathetic writers of all time' Hilary Spurling, Observer

A magisterial book by an eminent scholar of both European and American history, this will stand as the standard biography of Tocqueville for years to come.

Publication date: 19/11/2009

£14.99

ISBN: 9781861975935

Imprint: Profile Books

Subject: Biography & Memoir

Alexis de Tocqueville (Ebook)

Prophet of Democracy in the Age of Revolution

Hugh Brogan

Alexis de Tocqueville, French aristocrat, liberal politician and writer of genius was the greatest of all modern political writers. His writings are ever more influential and hugely valuable for the study of French and American society during the Age of the Democratic Revolution

As the son of a noble family which was nearly wiped out in the Revolution and as an ambitious politician during the July Monarchy and the Second Republic, Alexis de Tocqueville had a front seat at the revolutionary drama of his time. In 1831 Tocqueville made the famous voyage to the United States which led to his masterpiece, Democracy in America, one of the most vital works in the history of democratic thought.

'One of the delights of this remarkable biography is to let its readers see the past as if it were the present, through the eyes of civilised Frenchmen like Tocqueville ... A biography as humane, learned, humorous and perceptive as this extends our knowledge of ourselves and where we came from, as well as painting an incomparable portrait of one of the sharpest and most sympathetic writers of all time' Hilary Spurling, Observer

A magisterial book by an eminent scholar of both European and American history, this will stand as the standard biography of Tocqueville for years to come.

Publication date: 06/08/2010

£14.99

ISBN: 9781847652652

ISBN 10 / ASIN: B003ZDNWOK

Imprint: Profile Books

Subject: Biography & Memoir

Reviews for Alexis de Tocqueville

'Masterful'

 FT magazine

'Hugh Brogan has been fascinated by Tocqueville for nearly half a century. His industrious, rich biography sets his ideas in the context of his life and times'

 Independent

'An authoritative and richly detailed biography'

 Times Higher Education Supplement

'Exhaustively researched, deeply sympathetic, exquisitely written, it is a beautiful tribute to Tocqueville's pious devotion to his noble ancestry.'

 The Tablet

'An invaluable contribution to our understanding of 19th-century history. To anyone with a serious interest in contemporary America and its attitude towards democracy, it is indispensable'

Rebecca Abrams Guardian

'Hugh Brogan is not just a sure-footed guide to a brilliant, though elusive, theorist. He has a historian's graps of the period and a novelists's gift for character. As a portrait of a complicated man, a teeming milieu and a world in tumult, 'Alexsis de Tocqueville' has the satisfying fullness of 19th-century fiction.'

 The Economist

'A biography as humane, learned, humorous and perceptive as this extends our understanding of ourselves... as well as painting an incomparable portrait of one of the sharpest and most sympatheic writers of all time'

Hilary Spurling Observer

Hugh Brogan

Hugh Brogan

Hugh Brogan worked for The Economist and was then a Harkness Fellow in the United States. He has held a chair in American history at the University of Essex and now has a research professorship there. His books include the magnificent Penguin History of the United States and biographies of J. F. Kennedy and Arthur Ransome.