Tocqueville: The Aristocratic Sources of Liberty
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.78 (664 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0691152047 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 360 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2013-03-20 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
H. Lee Cheek, Jr., Ph.D. said Excellent, Nuanced Critique of Tocqueville. While this profound, and elegantly written and translated work, will not appeal to all scholars of political thought, Jaume (Centre Recherche Politiques de Sciences Po) nevertheless provides many insights into the life and work of the great French student of American social and political life. Emphasizing the contribution of Democracy in America, the author suggests that the best interpretative model for understanding Tocqueville incorporates an appreciation for his historical context, arguing that Tocqueville should not be considered as our "cont. Pleasing, but unsubstantial The text is eloquent and presents a significant of Tocqueville's self-consciousness as a great author or theoretician, but it overextends itself wandering through sociological and political influences that do little to open up his theory. He spends time on the French pious writers, including Pascal, but compared to previous work on this subject, Jaume has little to add and in fact demonstrates that he has not traced the profundity of the influence of this genre in Tocqueville's general work.
The author of a number of books, he is research director at France s Centre de Recherches Politiques de Sciences Po. He teaches in Paris, Rome, and Shanghai." . Lucien Jaume is a philosopher, political scientist, and historian of ideas
Yet, as Lucien Jaume argues in this acclaimed intellectual biography, Democracy in America is best understood as a French book, written primarily for the French, and overwhelmingly concerned with France. Situating Tocqueville in the context of the crisis of authority in postrevolutionary France, Jaume shows that Tocqueville was an ambivalent promoter of democracy, a man who tried to reconcile himself to the coming wave, but who was also nostalgic for the aristocratic world in which he was rooted--and who believed that it would be necessary to preserve aristocratic values in order to protect liberty under democracy. By taking seriously the idea that Tocqueville's French context is essential for understanding Democracy in America, Jaume provides a powerful and surp
His book will not be the final word in Tocqueville studies, but it will be one of the first books read and cited by a generation of Tocqueville scholars."--David Selby, Register of the Kentucky Historical Society"There are certainly many interesting insights and new observations in the book. Jaume, who probably knows Tocqueville's intellectual world better than anyone else alive, has reconstructed his reading in intricate detail, and brilliantly demonstrates the way particular themes and passages in Democracy in America relate to it."--David A. Jaume's erudition is obvious on every page."--Helena Rosenblatt, Inte