In this book, Michael A. Ledeen discusses the portrait of the American people found in Alexis de Tocqueville's two-volume
classic, Democracy in America (
vol. 1, 1835; vol. 2, 1840). Tocqueville saw the United States as the bellwether of a grand historical trend toward equality. Although he greatly admired the energy and fortitude of the Americans he observed in the Jacksonian Era, he feared that Americans might eventually give in to selfishness, materialism, and dependence on government.
Mr. Ledeen holds the Freedom Chair at AEI. His recent books include Machiavelli on Modern Leadership (1999) and Freedom Betrayed: How America Led a Global Democratic Revolution, Won the Cold War, and Walked Away (1996).
No one before Alexis de Tocqueville or since has understood us as well as he has, and no one can be considered well-educated without having grappled with Tocqueville's profound inquiry into American character. Tocqueville knew that the destiny of half the world would one day depend upon America, and it behooves everyone affected by that development-Americans and foreigners, friends and foes-to listen closely to him.