‘The Anthem Companion to Alexis de Tocqueville’ contains original interpretations of Tocqueville’s major writings on democracy and revolution as well as his lesser-known writings on colonies, prisons and minorities. The Introduction by Daniel Gordon discusses how Tocqueville was canonized during the Cold War and the need to reassess the place of Tocqueville’s voice in the conversation of post-Marxist social theory. Each chapter that follows compares Tocqueville’s ideas on a given subject with those of other major social theorists, including Bourdieu, Dahl, Du Bois, Foucault, Lévi-Strauss and Marx.

This comprehensive volume is based on the idea that Tocqueville was not merely a founder or precursor whose ideas have been absorbed into modern social science. The broad questions that Tocqueville raised, his comparative vision, and his unique vocabulary and style can inspire deeper thinking in the social sciences today.