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| Category: History | |
| About the Book | |
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Alexis
de Tocqueville did two things in writing Democracy In America. He
described the American citizens and the American experience from the
perspective of a foreigner. And he presented a case study in political
sociology. As history his writing may be criticized and is understandably
outdated on many points now, but his offering has enduring value because
of his philosophic and analytic skills. Because as a writer he was
a talented craftsman, it is a challenge to paraphrase him without
removing the life from his depictions. Tocqueville¹s prose is not difficult to read nor are his points obscure. But much of the information he includes is extra baggage and the detail at times serves as a drag. Then too, the style of 19th century writing has more flourish than contemporary readers find acceptable. This paraphrase treatment hopefully gives a hydroplaning effect to Tocqueville¹s message while still delivering it safely and undamaged. This version is both brief (about 30% of the original) and inclusive. All the author presented is here--just minus the belaboring, the extra example, and the unnecessary detail. Be assured that this version is not an abridgement in the sense of a depriving or a chopping. It is a faithful excursion through the whole body of text, lifting the essence up for easy viewing. It is a reexpression that retains the freshness that Tocqueville conveyed as a foreign observer excited about his discoveries and the tartness of his disapproval of too much equalitarianism. Where Tocqueville said it best you get his words. We just don¹t need all of them to get the point. The kite still flies here but on a shorter string.
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| About the Author | |
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Doug Good is a college teacher in the San Francisco Bay area (St. Mary's College, Laney College), with graduate degrees in history and religious studies and doctoral condidacy at Claremont Graduate University. As a free-lance writer, he is developing a series of paraphrase versions of classic books. |
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