Olivier Zunz Livres

Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) experienced a transformative era in Western history, having been born amid the French Revolution and passing just before the American Civil War. His aristocratic family endured the revolution, instilling in him an awareness of the transition between old and new worlds. As a young man, Tocqueville traveled extensively in North America, where he documented prison conditions but became captivated by the democratic experiments unfolding there. An influential political theorist, he recorded his observations in Democracy in America, a seminal work that remains a vital commentary on American democracy. Throughout his life, Tocqueville balanced his roles as an intellectual and politician, witnessing the 1848 revolutions across Europe before his death in 1859, shortly after completing The Old Regime and the Revolution. In this biography, Olivier Zunz explores how Tocqueville's environment served as a laboratory for his political theories. Zunz emphasizes Tocqueville's commitment to fostering a new democracy while acknowledging his concerns about its potential pitfalls. By examining Tocqueville's political career and activism, Zunz provides insights into the significance of his major texts, drawing from Tocqueville's own writings to present a comprehensive portrait of this pivotal thinker who bridged the ancien régime and the democratic age.

Reinterpreting our country's rise to world power, Olivier Zunz shows how American elites appropriated the twentieth century. Policymakers, corporate managers, engineers, scientists, and social scientists promoted a social contract of abundance and a controversial theory of pluralism. Their efforts created a model of middle class behavior for America and for the rest of the world. "It should certainly be the task of historians to explain the nation's triumphs as effectively as they have explained its failures, and Zunz in this intelligent, learned and ambitious book suggests a valuable new model for doing so."—Alan Brinkley, Times Literary Supplement "Zunz is evenhanded in his judgments. . . . His thesis is both imaginative and well grounded in the appropriate sources."—David M. Oshinsky, New York Times Book Review "Zunz is an innovative and perceptive social critic. He crosses disciplinary boundaries with ease and felicity, and is particularly adept at illustrating large themes with unusual but telling details."—Kent Blaser, American Studies "An eye-opening introduction to the shaping of modern America."— Foreign Affairs