Commager on Tocqueville

by Henry Steele Commager

Commager on Tocqueville is Henry Steele Commager's masterful interpretation of Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America .  Using Tocqueville's classic as a vehicle for discussing such contemporary issues as the environment, civil rights, and the military-industrial complex, Commager calls for a new vision of American leadership that trascends nationalism.

144 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Henry Steele Commager was an American historian who helped define Modern liberalism in the United States for two generations through his 40 books and 700 essays and reviews.

Reviews

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Commager uses Toqueville to frame his discussions of various issues of American understandings of everything from democracy to equality/inequality. It's quite well done and timeless in that it was written in 1993 but still relevant today.

[Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loose commentary on de Tocqueville, focusing on the strains between liberty/individualism and order/equality in American history. Perspective is decidedly left-liberal, but it got me thinking about de Tocqueville.

[L L · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite a somewhat self-preoccupied and unenticing title, the book is excellent. Commager assesses American history in the last century through the set of questions raised by Alexis de Tocqueville, the famous French aristocrat who wrote about America in Democracy in America. Tocqueville primarily was concerned with democracy – especially the tensions raised between liberty, order and equality. He examines issues of slavery and justice, centralization and democracy, military vs. civil power and political equality and economic inequality in America.