Self-confident yet beset by doubts, Alexis de Tocqueville was a paradoxical man. In his biography, Olivier Zunz, Professor Emeritus of U.S. History at the University of Virginia, shows just how topical the author of the landmark book De la démocratie en Amérique was.
American democracy is emerging from another grueling presidential campaign. The one that served as an example to Alexis de Tocqueville nearly two hundred years ago now seems tired. The perfect opportunity to try and understand what fascinated this great 19th-century Catholic liberal thinker, and to what extent the analysis of the time can be used to respond to contemporary challenges.
Olivier Zunz is Professor Emeritus of U.S. History at the University of Virginia, where he held the James Madison Chair. His biography of Tocqueville earned him the o
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