Democracy in America is arguably the most perceptive and influential book ever written about American politics and society. The Library of America now presents Arthur Goldhammer's acclaimed translation in a two-volume Paperback Classics edition. Winner of the 2004 Translation Prize awarded by the French-American Foundation, Goldhammer's elegant rendering is the first to capture fully the precision and grace of Tocqueville's style and the full force of his profound ideas and observations. Volume One (1835) and Volume Two (1840) are published separately, each with its own introductory essay by historian Olivier Zunz (Why the American Century?) exploring the creation and evolution of Tocqueville's masterpiece.

Author Biography

Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) was a French aristocrat who traveled to the United States in 1831 to investigate the nation's penal system, a journey that resulted in Democracy in America, his landmark work of historical and social analysis. Arthur Goldhammer has translated from the French more than 80 works in history, literature, art history, classical studies, philosophy, psychology, and social science. Olivier Zunz is Commonwealth Professor of History at the University of Virginia. He is the author of Why the American Century?, Making America Corporate, 1870-1920, and The Changing Face of Inequality, and co-editor of The Tocqueville Reader: A Life in Letters and Politics.