An exclusive new translation of the most perceptive and influential book ever written about American politics and society—“the bible on democracy” (The Texas Observer) Alexis de Tocqueville, a young aristocratic French lawyer, came to the United States in 1831 to study its penitentiary systems. His nine-month visit and subsequent reading and reflection resulted in this landmark masterpiece of political observation and analysis. In Democracy in America, Tocqueville vividly describes the unprecedented social equality he found in America and explores its implications for European society in the emerging modern era. His book provides enduring insight into the political consequences of widespread property ownership, the potential dangers to liberty inherent in majority rule, the vital role of religion in American life, and the importance of civil institutions in an individualistic culture dominated by the pursuit of material self-interest. He also probes the deep differences between the free and slave states, writing prophetically of racism, bigotry, and prejudice in the United States. Brought to life by Arthur Goldhammer’s clear, fluid, and vigorous translation, this volume of Democracy in America is the first to fully capture Tocqueville’s achievements both as an accomplished literary stylist and as a profound political thinker.

Offers a new reading of the history of the colonization of North America and the dispossession of its indigenous peoples.

It is impossible fully to understand the American experience apart from Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America. Moreover, it is impossible fully to appreciate Tocqueville by assuming that he brought to his visitation to America, or to the writing of his great work, a fixed philosophical doctrine. James T. Schleifer documents where, when, and under what influences Tocqueville wrote different sections of his work. In doing so, Schleifer discloses the mental processes through which Tocqueville passed in reflecting on his experiences in America and transforming these reflections into the most original and revealing book ever written about Americans. For the first time the evolution of a number of Tocqueville's central themes--democracy, individualism, centralization, despotism--emerges into clear relief. As Russell B. Nye has observed, "Schleifer's study is a model of intellectual history, an account of the intertwining of a man, a set of ideas, and the final product, a book." The Liberty Fund second edition includes a new preface by the author and an epilogue, "The Problem of the Two Democracies." James T. Schleifer is Professor of History and Director of the Gill Library at the College of New Rochelle

Anthony de Jasay is arguably one of the most independent thinkers and influential libertarian political philosophers of our time. Jasay challenges the reigning paradigms justifying modern democratic government, critiquing what he regards as the well-intentioned but illinformed arguments favoring the modern expansion of state power. The articles collected in "Political Economy, Concisely" are exactly what the title promises: a collection of concise essays that examine the political economy of a free society. Written for the general reader and specialist alike, these essays articulate a convincing classical liberal view of the world, with a no-nonsense approach to modern economic theory. Many of the articles are collected here for the first time in book form. Jasay's aim here is to clarify basic concepts in the realm of political and economic philosophy, such as property, equality and distributive justice, public goods, unemployment, opportunity costs, and welfare. His trenchant comments on European economics and political systems provide specifics that support his more general observations of the modern world. Arranged topically, these essays reflect the wit and intellectual elegance of their author, challenging conventional wisdom in a subtle yet incisive manner. Russian and French tragicomedies are used as striking illustrations of the fact that the human mind seems to be characteristically unwilling to endorse economic common sense against the myth of the beneficial effects of government control. Such lively topics as "How to Get a Free Lunch: Just Apply for It"; "Your Dog Owns Your House"; "Russia Hobbling Along on Clay Feet"; "Who Minds the Gap?" and "Free Riding on the Euro" both entertain and instruct. The topical arrangement within the sequence of the seven parts of the text provides a meaningful context for the reader and allows information to be accessed in a comprehensible manner. This book gives a jargon-free economic account of important matters in our daily lives. Its emphasis on the political rather than the ordinary business of life fills the need for revitalising classical political economy, concisely.

A provocative, breath-taking, and concise relational history of colonialism over the past 500 years, from the dawn of the New World to the twenty-first century.

This book integrates the problem of violence into a larger framework, showing how economic and political behavior are closely linked.