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Article: Tocqueville's journey on C-SPAN.(Symposium: Tocqueville and Democracy in America)(French philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville)
- Article from:
- PS: Political Science & Politics
- Article date:
- June 1, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 Cambridge University Press. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Alexis de Tocqueville and Gustave de Beaumont traveled in North America from May 9, 1831 to February 20, 1832. They stopped in 17 of the then 24 United States. Their travels resulted in two books - Tocqueville's Democracy in America (1994)(1) and Beaumont's Marie (1958).(2) Marie, a novel about slavery, should be read in order to understand the social context of the times. Indeed, Beaumont's work is even more critical of American society than Tocqueville's. Since the two Frenchmen were lifelong colleagues and Beaumont was a critical reviewer in the late stages of both parts of Democracy in America, Beaumont's telling novel and Tocqueville's penultimate magnum opus share ...