Tocqueville on American Character: Why Tocqueville's Brilliant Exploration of the American Spirit is as Vital and Important Today as It Was Nearly Two

by Michael A. Ledeen

Book Overview

In 1831, Alexis De Tocqueville, a twenty-six-year-old French aristocrat, spent nine months travelling across the United States. From the East Coast to the frontier, from the Canadian border to New... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312284667
• ISBN13: 9780312284664
• Release Date: October 2001
• Publisher: Truman Talley Books
• Length: 229 Pages
• Weight: 0.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.8" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

A Steppingstone to `Democracy in America'

This is an excellent book for that person is not knowledgeable about what our American ancestors thought about the elements of American political life that are so debated now. Ledeen presents de Tocqueville's `Democracy in America' in a straight forward, easy to read style. If you like what you read here, go for the big time and read de Tocqueville's `Democracy in America' and you will be the richer for it. The importance of de Tocqueville is that he presents an American character that made America great. Whether you are of the Right or the Left, you cannot help but compare those character traits with our current... well, you fill in what you will. A negative with Ledeen's work is his loss of focus by deviating to address President Clinton. I regret to say that was out of place.

yes, still relevant

A.M. Ledeen's A.Tocqueville 's analyses of American spirit - relevant today?The original "Democracy in America" is a well known university source of reference even now .In 1826 a French nobleman A.de Tocqueville devoted himself to study the American ideas concerning life under American Democracy started 200 years ago by the Pilgrims. He found the American character did not fundamentaly change, and the success of America is a direct result of its principles, which remain stable even when circumstances change. Ledeen 's analyses of them in today's conditions ( he describes the important characteristics and ideals ) as alive and well. The dynamic mindset for continuous improvement is more then materialism. Initiative is a permanent state of mind, esteem of personal liberty results in individualism and deep religious conviction gives a base for morality in dealing with the neighbour. Equality is taken for granted in spite of status or wealth. This is true in the west as well as the east where the original settlers started. Northern neighbour Canada, is different, regimented and respectful of old world systems even though the nature and climate are similar. Americans created something new an free, left behind old habits and goals. Having lived in Europe and Latin America it impressed me as liberated from burdens of superficial formality .He detects that Americans drive for a change. Every generation adopts new discoveries, destroys the old system and obstacles ruthlesly, expecting their sons to do better then the fathers.However they do respect the basic principles. There has been a confirmation by many that America can stay good even if there are many risks.Tocqueville's insights into the American worldview and its application by the wide public led him to forecasts and warnings about the future expressed in detail by Ledeen. The future developments will bridge over fads like American feminism, Africanism and other trends ,as well as views of "intellectuals" who are considering themselves culturally superior and try to influence the political elite . They are for controls of centralized state and, as one of the powers of the expanded state they advance, removal of religious discourse from public forum. Tocqueville found and the recent polls quted by Ledeen still confirm it, that that the overwhelming majority of Americans do not agree with the anti-religious intellectuals and judges. The advice is: religion is a guarantee of freedom, as his native France has tested by trying to supress it....Ben Benda.

Sloppy Implementation of a Brilliant Book Concept

Many people in America have not read Alexis de Tocqueville's brilliant analysis of the American character, as he experienced on his trip to the United States in 1826. That's too bad, because his work brilliantly defines what is different about American society from any other one on Earth. As an aristocratic Frenchman, perhaps it was easier for him to see us as we are, by seeing how different we are from Europeans, Canadians, and Mexicans.The concept of the book is to summarize de Tocqueville, and then to test his observations against what has happened since. I have not seen that done before, and looked forward to seeing the results. When Michael Ledeen is describing de Tocqueville, or political thinking of that time, the book is superb. If the book had stopped there, it would have been a five star book. So if you want to read it for that background, you will be well rewarded. Alternatively, you can read de Tocqueville directly. I would prefer the original, but either would serve. In his contemporary commentary on America, Mr. Ledeen is basically giving us a political sociology analysis. For such work, it is helpful to have facts that look from various perspectives and dimensions. The first problem with this book is that Mr. Ledeen prefers to give just one anecdote or one fact, and build his observations from that. That approach works well for stimulating debate, but falls short of being convincing about our unique character. I found this approach very suspect.Second, Mr. Ledeen prefers to always come at the problem from the perspective of being paranoid about losing our ideal character. I think his point of view is a valid one, but there are others. For example, one can also talk optimistically about how we routinely avoid certain traps (like having the best people decide to become politicians, or failing to use private institutions to serve important social needs). Those other perspectives are missing. The result is a book that seems like an anti-Democrat (as in the political party) rant in many places.The third problem is that the book seems to have been weakly researched. Facts and details seem just a little out of focus, as though drawn from long-remembered impressions, rather than real knowledge or research. For example, I rarely see Jack Welch's (the famous CEO of General Electric) name misspelled in any publication or book. But in this book, he was "Welsh" all the way through. Now, I believe Mr. Welch is an Irishman by background, so I don't think it's an accurate description of his familial history, either. Then, the book goes on to describe his Mr. Welch's pronouncements of 1980 as creative destruction. The ideas that Mr. Welch advocated in that year were well established and broadly in application throughout American business when he pursued them. He primarily was advocating that the company stay in businesses in which it could be the leader or have the second place in market share. He solved the company's defic

Yes

This is a fine book that makes accessible Tocqueville's writings. Clinton-lovers won't like this book, because Toqueville would have thought Clinton the worst thing that could happen to America, "A leader that gives Americans prosperity will have nothing more demanded of him." Which is why Americans have so stupidly overlooked Clinton treasonously selling our military technology to China, in exchange for campaign donations, as Ledeen illustrates clearly. An important book.

The importance of preserving the 'American spirit'

My first impression upon reading this book is that it would make the perfect college text: concise, well-written, filled with wisdom, witty, and highly relevant to what most Americans care about--or should. Naturally, college professors will find themselves intrigued by this volume, maybe even be tempted to read it--but extremely unlikely to ever add it to their required reading lists. The reason is simple: Ledeen makes a strong case for the proposition that certain aspects of liberalism undermine the American character, a contention that most academics would either dispute with moral indignation--or argue would be a good thing. Readers would like to know if, first, Tocqueville accurately captures the American spirit--the character of her people--and, second, if Ledeen accurately represents the views of Tocqueville. On the first, I cannot think of a more discerning and brilliant commentator on the mentality of Americans, which is, of course, why we still read him and love to quote him. As for the second, it is clear that Ledeen is sensitive to even the most subtle nuances of Tocqueville's thinking, and he returns to Tocqueville's actual words again and again. Ledeen's chapter on "Religious Faith Anchored by Secular Institutions" is a superb analysis of the role religious faith in a secular society can play, and how it is vital to our character. His chapter on "Apostles of Freedom Tempted by Luxurious Tyranny" is exceptionally insightful and billiant. Ledeen is one of those large-minded conservatives who is deeply concerned about what he calls "our collective national mission," who celebrates what is best about America, but despairs at the forces which he sees as undermining it. Nearly every page contains useful insights and well-argued observations about what is happening to the American character. Tocqueville has found an commentator worthy of his brilliance.