{"product_id":"alexis-de-tocqueville-democracys-guide-eminent-lives-9780060598983","title":"Alexis de Tocqueville: Democracy's Guide (Eminent Lives)","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAlexis de Tocqueville: Democracy's Guide (Eminent Lives)\u003c\/strong\u003e by Epstein, Joseph. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780060598983.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlexis de Tocqueville was among the first foreigners to recognize and trumpet the grandness of the American project. His two-volume classic, Democracy in America, published in 1835, not only offered a vivid account of what was then a new nation but famously predicted what that nation would become. His startling prescience, as well as the endurance of his political ideas, has firmly established Tocquevilles place in American history; his chronicle of our infancy is a fixture on every American history syllabus. Nearly all of his clairvoyant predictions about American political life, from the influence of Evangelical Christianity to the advent of our \"consumer society,\" have come true—and on the schedule he set.\nYet in his own time, Tocqueville had little evidence for the truth of his ideas. Introspective, sickly, prone to self-doubt, he was an unlikely visionary. Joseph Epstein, Americas most versatile essayist, proves an ideal guide to his predecessor. In wry, elegant prose, he engages Tocquevilles intellectual contributions, illuminates the development of his thought, and provides a referendum on his various prophecies. (His record was far from perfect—he thought the federal government would wither away as the states rose in power.) Alexis de Tocqueville: Democracys Guide is an altogether human portrait of the Frenchman who would become an American icon.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"EMINENT LIVES","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44946760728629,"sku":"ByrdShop_0060598980","price":26.85,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780060598983_3ef7c084-b03e-4178-9d20-a2dd5d808566.jpg?v=1778648792","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/alexis-de-tocqueville-democracys-guide-eminent-lives-9780060598983","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}