What to do with the knowledge that everything worth anything in America came from the French…the statue of liberty…Democracy in America…woke Last Supper…

Despite the patriotic difficulties bound up in admitting it, no book has been written before or since this one that can rival its piercing insights about the politics of post-enlightenment modernity, the great leviathan of democratic hegemony, and the inseparable relationship between the polis and the individual soul.

Will be overjoyed to plumb the depths of this book’s mad genius for the rest of my life.

It's taken a year and a half but I have finally finished the unabridged version of Tocqueville's great classic.

Ironically there is far too much to cover to try to give an adequate review.

"In 1831, Alexis de Tocqueville and Gustave de Beaumont were sent by the French government to study the American prison system. In his later letters Tocqueville indicates that he and Beaumont used their official business as a pretext to study American society instead.[3] They arrived in New York City in May of that year and spent nine months traveling the United States, studying the prisons, and collecting information on American society, including its religious, political, and economic character. " from wikepedia

I do not remember anything about the prison system of America but there is much comparing and contrasting between the Democratic government of America and the aristocracy in Europe and especially in France. Tocqueville also compares the mentality of Americans vs. French.

He sees much to commend in American, he also believes there are advantages to living under a theocracy as well. He details each advantage and disadvantage.

And Tocqueville leaves no stone unturned. He breaks down government on a national, state, county and city level. He compares the various religions (at that time Christian denominations) and how the Church affects how people think, Protestant, such as Episcopalian and it's belief in the state church; Puritanism and it's belief in the right of individual freedom of religious practice and also the Catholic church, which is founded on a theocracy and goes hand in hand with Royalty. (Of course this is not so today, he is describing the state of contemporary France).

Other studies were on American's view of money, their right to earn and keep it and also their attitude towards the poor and helpless. Their right to own their own land, compared to a serf-like attitude that seems to still be prevalent in Europe where everyone is considered, if not servantss to a king anymore, still wards of the state, where each person must serve the state, handing over most of their earnings and possessions to the state in order to be taken care of by the state. Europeans would argue that this is for the common good of all, but they cannot show how the system is different from serving Royalty. In practice it is the same.

I found many of observances insightful, but I'm not sure how true they are. He makes a lot of unsubstantiated and sweeping generalizations by which he then forms his conclusions. I daresay much of it is true and also his conclusions, and some of his observations may have been wrong and also his conclusions (even if his observations were right).

This is a book filled with heavy thought. As I said, it took me over a year to read it. It is worth everyone's while to read it because too many Americans today are ignorant as to our history. This is an invaluable record of American life on every level as seen from an outsider's point of view.

The best book ever written on one country by the citizen of another?