Democracy in America

Originally contracted to report on the American prison system, Alexis de Tocqueville arrived in the nascent country and found that a greater study needed to take place, that which showed why representative democracy seemed to be thriving in America while failing across the world. The results of this study are compiled in his landmark work, Democracy in America, the first volume of which would be published in 1835 and the second in 1840.

The book fundamentally changed the way Americans percei...