Alexis de Tocqueville was among the first foreigners to recognize and trumpet the grandness of the American project. His two-volume classic, Democracy in America , published in 1835, offered not only a vivid account of the still young nation but famously predicted what the nation would become, and firmly established his place in U.S. history. Yet in his own time, Tocqueville had little evidence for the truth of his ideas. Introspective, sickly, prone to self-doubt, he was a most unlikely visionary. In wry, elegant prose, Joseph Epstein, America's most versatile essayist, offers an engaging and altogether human portrait of the Frenchman who would become an American icon.

Sketches of eminent Americans and a pointed reconsideration of the ingredients of the American Dream form a fascinating social history. Should be must reading in executive suites as well as college classrooms. --Forbes

Essays on American Writing. In stock

"Who is the greatest living essayist writing in English? Joseph Epstein would surely be at the top of anybody's list. Epstein is penetrating. He is witty. He has a magic touch with words, that hard to define but immediately recognizable quality called style. Above all, he is impossible to put down. Gallimaufry: A Collection of Essays, Reviews, Bits contains 58 essays on a wide variety of subjects, each a pure pleasure to read"--