1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910790290803321

Autore

Tocqueville Alexis de <1805-1859.>

Titolo

Letters from America [[electronic resource] /] / Alexis de Tocqueville ; edited, translated, and with an introduction by Frederick Brown

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New Haven, ; ; London, : Yale University Press, c2010

ISBN

1-280-57124-1

9786613600844

0-300-15383-X

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (304 p.)

Altri autori (Persone)

BeaumontGustave de <1802-1866.>

BrownFrederick <1934->

Disciplina

973

973.5

Soggetti

National characteristics, American - 19th century

United States Description and travel Sources

United States Social life and customs 1783-1865 Sources

United States Politics and government 1783-1865 Sources

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Includes excerpts from traveling companion Gustave de Beaumont.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- INTRODUCTION -- THE CROSSING -- IN NEW YORK -- UPSTATE NEW YORK AND WEST -- NEW ENGLAND -- FROM PHILADELPHIA TO NEW ORLEANS -- THE LAST LEG: F ROM NEW ORLEANS TO WASHINGTON AND NEW YORK -- APPENDIX -- INDEX

Sommario/riassunto

Young Alexis de Tocqueville arrived in the United States for the first time in May 1831, commissioned by the French government to study the American prison system. For the next nine months he and his companion, Gustave de Beaumont, traveled and observed not only prisons but also the political, economic, and social systems of the early republic. Along the way, they frequently reported back to friends and family members in France. This book presents the first translation of the complete letters Tocqueville wrote during that seminal journey, accompanied by excerpts from Beaumont's correspondence that provide details or different perspectives on the places, people, and American life and attitudes the travelers encountered.These delightful letters provide an intimate portrait of the complicated, talented



Tocqueville, who opened himself without prejudice to the world of Jacksonian America. Moreover, they contain many of the impressions and ideas that served as preliminary sketches for Democracy in America, his classic account of the American democratic system that remains an important reference work to this day. Accessible, witty, and charming, the letters Tocqueville penned while in America are of major interest to general readers, scholars, and students alike.