From: History: Review of New Books | Date: June 22, 1997| Author: Ritter, Harry | COPYRIGHT 1997 Heldref Publications. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

This volume seeks to show how Alexis de Tocqueville's conception of historical change, human liberty, and social cohesion ripened over time, from his Democracy in America of the 1830s; through Souvenirs, which is about his personal involvement in France's revolution of 1848; culminating in his famous analysis of social relationships in The Old Regime and the French Revolution, composed in the 1850s. The author's goal is to "support Tocqueville's claim in the last decade of his life t...